Day 12: Sleeping Spaces

We finally assembled Little Ted's bassinet, which was given to us by Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez when we were in Corpus. It is adorable and fits perfectly in our bedroom. Now that it's assembled, we have a total of 3 sleeping spaces for the little guy - one in the living room, the crib in the nursery (photos coming soon), and the bassinet in our room. As I write this, it sounds a bit like overkill; on the other hand, I'm pretty sure we'll be glad we have all of them when he gets here.



Ted also hung our new curtains today. We've had a ridiculously hot summer this year (recently, we were in the news for being the hottest place in TX; we got up to 106 that day), and so we decided we needed curtains to cut down on some of the heat that accumulates upstairs during the afternoons. The brainstorm came after hanging blackout curtains in the nursery, which officially made it the coolest location in the condo (lucky baby). We'll see how well our stylish (yet not so darkening) bedroom curtains work out.

Just What I Always Wanted!

Below is a video of Mattie opening his birthday gifts at the "pre"-birthday party held for him while Ted and I were in Corpus. Looks like he got just what he wanted.

From Corpus Christi Vacation

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Matthew turned 5 today - can't believe he's that big already!

Day 17: Doctor's Visit

Nothing interesting to report today. Little Ted is comfortably situated in the same place he was last week - only 1 cm dilated. Of course, he feels like he's putting more pressure on me, but that may simply be because he's getting bigger. We'll see what report we get next week. Personally, I hope Little Ted decides he's ready to "move on" so that we don't have to worry about forcing things along.

Day 24: Weekly Doctor Visits

Today was the first of several weekly doctor visits that we will attend up until the birth of Little Ted. Ted (the elder) described this visit as the one where "we all get to know each other a little better" as it consisted of the first of many pelvic exams to determine what exactly the ankle-biter is doing inside of me. While most people don't learn much at the 36 week visit, we got some good info: Little Ted is head down, where he's supposed to be, and unless he's some sort of amazing acrobat, he will stay that way. In other words, no need to worry about a breach baby. Also, it looks like I'm about a centimeter dilated. That's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things, but at least it seems like Little Ted is aware that his due date is fast approaching.

Day 30: One Month to Go!

I can hardly believe we're down to 30 days. I don't know where the time has gone! At this stage, Ted is busy prepping the condo for Little Ted's arrival. Here are pictures of two of his latest projects:



Ted replaced our bent, sad looking A/C vent in the hallway. He had to cut out part of the wall to do so. His handiwork looks great, if I do say so myself.



Our crib and changing table arrived on Wednesday. Ted assembled the crib today, as you can see above, and he is working on the changing table as I write. The crib set is currently in the washer, and I will, of course, post more pictures once it is all put together. And if you're wondering what the rest of the nursery looks like, it is, quite literally, a disaster, which is why I didn't post a wider shot. I expect to have things in order over the course of the next two weeks and will share the final product with all of you.

And for those of you who might be wondering how things are "progressing," I had yet another doctor's appointment yesterday. All is well - the baby's heartbeat is strong, he is on track for growth, and I am healthy. Beginning next week, the doctor will check me weekly to see how close we are to delivery. We'll be sure to keep everyone posted. :-)

Day 33: Decisions & Deliveries

After returning from our vacation, we had a consultation scheduled with a pediatrician. This doctor was the third we had interviewed. The first seemed more interested in moving us through as opposed to having a meaningful discussion with us. We liked the second pediatrician we interviewed; he answered our questions honestly and took a genuine interest in us. But in the end, we decided to go with doctor #3 - she is an internist/pediatrician who has recently joined a new practice in our area and does not seem to be overwhelmed by patients. In addition, she took our questions seriously and can become our family doctor, if we so choose. So that's one big item we can check off our list.

Also, we received a fun package from our Oregon family that same evening. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin filled a box with goodies for Little Ted:



We were thrilled with the gifts - thanks to all who contributed (formal thank yous will be in the mail as soon as I get myself to the store and pick up more cards!)

Hiatus

We recently returned from a nice little vacation in Corpus Christi, with a stop in the Hill Country on the way down. We had lots of fun revisiting some of the Hill Country sites we first visited in 2006 (Fredericksburg and the Wildseed Farm in particular) and relaxing with family. After a long school semester, we needed to get away and do lots of nothing for awhile.

We also got to enjoy our new video camera, one of the many purchases we have made in preparation for the arrival of Little Ted. We spent a lot of time filming Matthew. Those of you who know him know that he is an endless source of entertainment. Our favorite clip of him is posted below, for your enjoyment.