Baby Showers!

Kevin and I have VERY generous friends, co-workers and family members. We have had several showers and still have a few more in the upcoming weeks. My school hosted a shower and my girlfriends threw a shower last weekend. The Allen family is hosting a shower this weekend and my mom's side of the family is throwing a shower when they are in town for my Grandma's 90th birthday. It is so fun to get together with people and celebrate. We feel very blessed!

A few of the pictures you will see are from my "friends" shower. It was so fun to get together with the girls. We played a few games, ate a delicious lunch and opened gifts. We played "guess the size of the belly" and I realized that I must appear to LOOK a lot bigger than I am. Almost everyone's string was huge when they tried to measure it around my waist. I think some people's measurement may have been big for Kate Gosselin (from Jon and Kate plus 8 who had sextuplets). Yikes!!!

After the shower, we went to my parents house to have dinner with Molly before she went back to Madison. We laid out the gifts on the table and had fun playing with them. My dad kept saying "what is this for?" "did we have this when the kids were growing up?" "how did we ever raise 5 kids without this stuff?" Auntie Molly tried out the tummy time mat and Kevin practiced with the Baby Bjorn. Baby stuff is so fun!

We had our 36 week appointment on Friday. We were surprised to find out that I am dilated 2 cm and 50% effaced!!! I realize that I could stay at 2 cm for a few weeks but my doctor said that it will probably happen sooner than later. We went home after the appointment and I frantically started washing baby clothes and organizing his closet. There is so much to do before his arrival!!!

I only have three days left of school before summer vacation. I am READY to be done! I will miss the kids and my co-workers but it will be nice to have a few weeks to get stuff organized at home before the baby arrives.

We have a very busy week and weekend coming up. My mom's entire side of the family is coming in town to celebrate Marge's 90th birthday!!! We have many fun events planned including a birthday party at her apartment on Saturday afternoon. It will be great to see everyone and spend time together.

Pictures!

I am just now adding the pictures that went with the last few entries. The picture of me in the orange dress is from my birthday and the other pictures are from Molly and Michaels graduation.

They Made It!

Congratulations to Molly and Michael! They graduated last weekend from Madison and The University of Kansas. We are all very impressed that they made it in 4 years- way to go!!! Kevin and I were only able to attend Molly's graduation in Madison but my parents made it to both. We had a great time in Madison, I even stayed out until midnight on Friday and Saturday night!! We spent a lot of time hanging out with Molly and her friends. I am so glad we were able to be there for the weekend. Molly is staying in Madison for the month of June and Michael is coming home this week. They are both a little unsure of their plans for next year but I know they will figure it out. I remember how hard that transition was from college to the real world. It's a little scary at first but they are both such amazing people I know they will be successful in whatever they choose to do. I am such a proud sister!

To update you on baby news...We have our 34 week appointment on Friday as well as an appointment to meet our pediatrician. I am moving a little slower each day and feeling the effects of the 8th month of pregnancy a little more each minute! Baby Allen is still moving a ton and has been getting the hiccups a lot lately. I just can't wait to meet the little guy! Everyday I become more and more curious about what he will look like and what his personality will be like. It is so exciting! Only 6 weeks to go!

A Wonderful Birthday!

On Wednesday I celebrated my 28th birthday! I have been feeling a little run down so I decided to take the day off and rejuvenate. My parents, Charlie and I went out for lunch, I got a prenatal massage, met a friend for coffee and went out to dinner with Kevin. It was a very relaxing day and it felt so good to sleep in!

We had our 32 week appointment on Friday and everything continues to look good. I've started having "braxton hicks" contractions and middle of the night heartburn and charlie horses. So fun. Sleeping is becoming more difficult and I am slowly entering the stage where I am feeling ready to have this baby. If I go full-term I only have 7 weeks left! Yikes!

We are going to Madison this weekend for Molly's graduation and then my parents are traveling on to Lawrence for Michael's graduation. I can't believe the babies are graduating! I feel like I just graduated from College, has it really been 6 years? It's amazing how much your life changes in such a short amount of time.

30 Weeks and Counting...

We had our 30 week appointment on Friday and everything went well! I am measuring 30 cm which is what you are supposed to measure at 30 weeks and we are still on track for our July 2nd due date. The baby's heart rate was good and everything looked normal. It is hard to believe that we only have 10 weeks left, give or take a few! We are now going to the doctor every 2 weeks which feels like a lot and then at 36 weeks we will go every week until the big day. We have started our "baby classes" at the hospital and now spend our Tuesday evenings with 11 other anxious couples. Our instructor Jeri is a 60 something grandma of 2 who LOVES the topic of birth. She is very enthusiastic and as you can imagine her and Kevin get along great. She knits most of the props she uses and last week we were introduced to the "knitted uterus" which was interesting to say the least. The videos we watch are a little out dated and sometimes it is hard not to laugh (good thing we sit in the back). Overall, the info is good and it will hopefully be useful come July.

We have been working hard on the nursery and are excited to say that it is almost finished! It has been so fun decorating it and getting it ready for Baby Allen. I can't help but peek in every time I walk by. The nursery furniture came in much sooner than expected so we were able to get an early start on things. A few of the pictures posted are of Kevin and my dad moving the furniture into the nursery. It was a MUCH bigger job than we had originally thought. The dresser alone weighed 230 pounds. I watched nervously as Kevin and my dad carried it up the stairs. At one point they couldn't get the box to turn at the top of the stairs and needed a third person. Since I am not a lot of help these days, I went running to the neighbors. They were not home. Then, I saw someone a few houses down standing in their kitchen. I ran up, rang the doorbell and said "Hi, I'm Laura, I'm your neighbor. My husband and dad are moving baby furniture into our house and a 230 pound box is about to fall on them. Can you help?" He was very kind and came right over. With his help, they were able to maneuver the box and get it into the nursery without any injuries. Later we found out that he and his wife were expecting their first baby any day. We have since become friends and baby Micha was born this week. I think it was meant to be!

Overall, it has been a very busy few weeks! We are looking forward to May and the warm weather. We will be traveling to Madison in a few weeks for Molly's graduation (Michael's is the same weekend and I don't think I can make the 11 hour drive from Madison to Lawrence). We are also hoping to head up to the cabin for Memorial Day Weekend. Lots to look forward to!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter! My Grandma Nelson was in town so we had her along with my parents and Charlie over for brunch and then we all went to Westwood Community Church. The service was great with lots of fun music. I think Baby Allen liked it because he was kicking the whole church service! Kevin is looking forward to next Easter at church when he can hold Baby Allen in the back with all of the other Dad's and babies (I am pretty sure it's just an excuse to slip out early...)

After church we went to my parents house and my Grandma Davis came over and we had a great Easter dinner and watched the Masters. It was a very relaxing day! I reminded Kevin that this is our last Easter to sit back and relax. In the future we will spend the day hiding Easter baskets, hunting for eggs and eating treats! Sounds like fun!

BABYMOON!!!!

We just got back from our Babymoon in Florida (for those of you who don't know, a Babymoon is a trip you take before you have a baby). We had an amazing week soaking up the sun at the pool and on the beach. We stayed in Marco Island for two nights and in Bonita Springs for two nights. We spent a lot of time relaxing, reading, eating and walking on the beach. The weather was beautiful- 85 and sunny the whole time. We continuously applied 70 SPF sunscreen but we still managed to get a sunburn! Don't worry, I kept my belly covered so Baby Allen would be safe from the sun. We ate at fun restaurants and enjoyed spending time together. It was a great trip!

We realized on the trip that having a pregnant belly is similar to wearing a huge sign that says "Come up and talk to me!" We were stopped constantly by people (mostly older retired people) who asked us questions about the baby. We soon realized that they were only asking so they could tell us about their kids, grand kids, friends or neighbors who have kids. We heard a lot of stories and got a lot of advice!!!

It was really hard to come home (I will admit that I had tears on the way to the airport) and it didn't make it any easier to come home to snow. We are ready for spring!!! Looking back, we are very thankful that we had the chance to take one last trip together before the chaos begins. Now the next big thing on our calendar is on July 2nd when Baby Allen is due!