4 more weeks!

Things have been going really well! My due date is four weeks from today and I have been getting really excited! (I think Chris has too.) We are pretty much ready. We are still waiting a little while longer before we wash the baby stuff and put it all away, but other than that...just waiting for baby to be fully cooked! We got our pack-n-play from people at my school, which was the last big thing we needed...seeing as how the baby is going to sleep in that in our room to begin with. I am so thankful for that! :)
I had my doctor's appointment yesterday, which begins when I have to start going weekly. That means it's getting close! Chris came with me to my appointment so that we could go over our birth plan and ask questions that we had. So we are going to a group of midwives and the lady that we had yesterday is my favorite. We are hoping that she is the one that delivers the baby. She made me feel so comfortable and was so helpful yesterday. She agrees with what we are wanting for our birth and was very supportive. She got very excited with us, which made me even more excited!
As far as school goes, I am feeling much better about it all. The intervention specialist has been in my room part of the day to help out and pulls my small groups. We have been planning together so that she could help my sub. However, my principal said that she might take over for me and then we would have the sub for her position AND that I don't have to do plans for my leave since she knows what I do. So I've been planning with her and we are SO ahead, it's awesome! We have to plan four more days and then we are planned up until Christmas break! This doesn't take into account all of the lessons that we won't get through before Christmas, so realistically..it will probably cover the first week of January too. This just puts my mind so much more at ease. One more reason I'm not stuper stressed! :) I am loving it!
We are having Thanksgiving here and we bought a bunch of the stuff yesterday. I am super excited! I have energy (at least until like 6:30 p.m.) and I'm feeling better than I was a week or two ago. I can't believe how soon we will have a little baby here with us! Hopefully before Christmas day! :)

35 Weeks...and counting!

Well, today marks 35 weeks, which is crazy! Everyone at school is talking about how big I'm getting and keeps asking my due date again because (based on how I look) they assume it's soon. One lady asked me about it one day and told me that she doesn't think I'll make it to my due date. The next day I saw her and she said, "You're still here!" I was like geez...I better not be THIS early! So while part of me is SO ready to be done with school and have our little baby here, I also want it to be closer to my actual due date so baby can be nice and healty and I can take off more time after Christmas break, rather than before. I also have had many people comment about us not finding out the sex of the baby. For a long time, I didn't think I'd be able to wait. There were also times throughout my pregnancy (like when other people find out what they are having) that made me want to know. But now, I am so excited that we didn't find out! It's also fun to see what people think it will be and have to wait and find out who was right. Oh! We got our monitor from Chris' grandpa which we played with already and figured out how it works. I was a little bit worried about the range, but it looks like it will work just fine! So thanks to Grandpa Bibb! (Soon to be great-grandpa)

As for how I have been feeling...I feel very pregnant. :) I've had some stomach issues, but nothing too severe. Most of my problems seem to bother me for a while, but then go away. However, I have been SUPER tired. Here is a glance at the nights in our household this past week: After school Chris and I have dinner and sit down to watch a TV show or something because I am exhausted. He makes a comment to me at the end of the show(which wakes me up) and I realize that I fell asleep. This usually happens around 6:30. Then, I go up to bed and within an hour am asleep. Then I wake up at 5:30 and do it all over again. I like sleeping though, so I'm ok with it..I just laugh about how ridiculous it is. So many of my coworkers and kids are sick though, so I figure my body is very busy right now...you know, trying to grow a baby and stay healthy and all that so I might as well let it rest! Last night, however...makes me almost feel like the baby is here. Every few hours I woke up and was awake for 30 minutes or an hour before I was able to fall back asleep. Don't worry, I was still in bed for almost ten hours, not to mention the sleeping I did during the TV show. :)

We have completed a lot of the necessary things, which is good because now I'm too tired to do anything. We did our childbirth class, which was 5 weeks. We are preregistered for the hospital and have written our birth plan. We are just waiting to wash the clothes until it's a little bit closer so they don't get all gross before the baby is here and I have to pack my hospital bag. That's about it though! We are excited and are thankful to have friends and family who are excited with us! So thanks! :)

Oh! I almost forgot...at my last doctor's appointment, I asked about the Braxton Hicks that I mentioned last time and they said that the baby is facing down, so it was probably the baby sticking their butt up. Hehe, I thought that was funny. So I guess I haven't really felt Braxton Hicks...

33 Weeks

Last weekend, my mom decided to come visit semi-last minute. It was awesome. We had such a great weekend! We got some great deals on some of the baby things that we still needed. I'm feeling like we are almost ready to go, with just a few more things that we still need. We got baskets and a hamper for the baby's room, a bouncy seat, and some other smaller things. My mom is awesome at getting deals. We went to a used store and ended up getting the bouncy seat brand new for $2 more than it was at the used store! I am feeling huge. My belly is getting harder and I think it's sticking out a lot more too. The baby is filling up all that space! This weekend, we got to relax, we did a lot of shopping, took some pictures, and my mom even made me pumpkin bread! I LOVE her pumpkin bread. We are so thankful to be blessed with such a wonderful family and have so many great friends.

I have tried to be on top of things for school. I have been getting my lesson plans done each Tuesday (so, yes...my lesson plans are done today for next week!) and I am also staying pretty caught up with my grades. This is a big deal because grades are due soon and it's the first time I haven't freaked out because I was so far behind. Today I felt (what I think was) Braxton Hicks a lot. The top and middle of my belly got REALLY hard and stayed that way for quite a while. This makes me feel like the baby will be coming so soon and makes me try even harder to stay on top of things. But, honestly...like I'm going to care when I'm in labor/have the baby. Still, it's nice not to have to worry about it.

We saw some really great costumes yesterday and some adorable kids when they came around trick-or-treating for Halloween. Chris and I sat out on the porch and passed out candy, which was enjoyable. I love passing out candy. Now, I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving! (I know, already...) Family is coming down and I am very excited to have it at our new house and have some great time with some of the family too!

Here are some pictures from this past weekend.



Relaxing with the baby!







Chris listening to baby!



So excited for the baby to come! On the left is our new bouncy seat!



A big belly is rough on my back!

Look how big my belly is getting!

Woah! Look at that thing!



She will be such a good big sister! She is being so gentle with my belly!



Pumpkins and Baby Room!

This was at 31 weeks. I got a huge pumpkin!

Last weekend, Chris and I went to a pumpkin patch. I love fall! I love the colored leaves, picking apples, and carving pumpkins! We even got a baby pumpkin for the little one!

This weekend, our friends Brittany and Caleb came over and we all carved pumpkins. We had a great time!



Here are the final products! Mine is the bat and pumpkin on the left, Chris made the ghost, and the baby pumpkin is in the middle!



Putting the dresser together!

Paris was VERY helpful. When our wrists hurt, she took over. :)

Chris sitting inside the dresser after working hard!

Yay! We have put together the crib and dresser! The room is coming together!

The finished dresser/changing table with changing pad and decals on the wall!

The sign that Chris was SUPER excited about, with decals above the bed.

Crib wall with diaper stacker and blanket.

 I am feeling so much better knowing that the room is almost done! We put the dresser together, put the decals on the wall, hung the sign, got the crib set out, and organized some of the baby stuff. I am so excited! We have to wash all of the clothes that we have so far, but we will probably wait a little while before we do that or we will just feel like we should do it again! Getting VERY excited about this little one coming! :)

32 Weeks

Today marks 32 weeks into the pregnancy. This means that we only have 8 weeks left. I'm conflicted when I think about these numbers because they are not necessarily accurate. 8 weeks could really be anywhere from 4 to 10 weeks (hopefully no less than 4) and everything is so up in the air. The baby room is not even close to finished yet and there are still many things that we want/need for when this little baby shows up. I'm not freaking out yet, but just acknowledging the things that need to be completed in the near future. I don't know when it happened, but I became a planner. I like to make lists, have a schedule, and know what to expect. This makes it difficult when trying to plan the holidays when I don't know when this wonderful baby will grace us with his/her presence. I think that this is God's way of getting me prepared for being a mom. You can't always plan things and have it all be so structured when you have kids...so I guess I have to get used to that.

This week at our class, we got to take a tour of the hospital birthing center. The rooms were much bigger than we expected and actually look very nice. I was excited when we left, but also a little nervous. There are so many unknowns when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth. I feel like the baby won't be way late, but I think that's just me trying to plan again. It's weird to know that your life is going to change so drastically soon, but not know when this will actually happen. That's ok though. We are along for the ride.

How have I been feeling? Well, pretty good. My hips haven't been popping when I walk up the stairs as much recently. I do not wake up quite as often from shooting pain down my hip/legs either. The baby is still moving like crazy, which feels much different than it used to.

On Monday, I didn't know how I was going to get through another 9 weeks. I got up every day and went into work and just took it a day at a time and this week flew by. I'm hoping the same happens for the next however many weeks until the baby is born. Chris and I are so excited to expand our family with this little one. Oh, and I am excited to carve our little pumpkin family tonight. :)

31 Weeks!

Well, we are 31 weeks in, with only 9 weeks left to go. I had a baby shower up in Michigan thrown by my aunts and lots of friends and family were able to celebrate with me. We are overwhelmed by all of the "must-haves" and are trying to weed through to figure out what we really must have.

As for baby Boerner, he/she is good! Kicking like crazy and making me feel all sorts of weird things I've never felt before. At my last appointment, the doctor said that everything looks good. The baby got very excited and had a healthy heartbeat. We have started classes at the hospital. They have been very helpful for both of us. Plus, I got a massage from Chris last time, BONUS! People still keep saying that I'm not very big, but I feel like a giant. I can no longer put shoes on/tie them unless I told my breath. When I breathe out, I can't reach them anymore. Right. Not big at all. :)

School is going well. It's getting harder to get up with less sleeping through the night. I wake up constantly from this hip pain and have to flip over, until it hurts on both sides enough that I have to get out of bed. Chris has been a wonderful support though through it all.

I'm getting anxious to know if it's a boy or a girl! We have put up our crib and are waiting for the dresser to come in later this week or early next week. Chris painted the bedroom a while ago now and everything is slowly coming together. I am so thankful for the love and support people have shown us recently. We are very excited to meet this little one! We know he/she will also feel very loved!

Geez!

Ok, so life is like a whirlwind. Everytime I look at what I last wrote, I can't believe how much has changed since then. Well, that was over a year ago now. We did move into the apartment and RIGHT after we moved in, I got three interviews right in a row. I went to all three and the final interview went really well. I was offered the job and thrown right into things and had to start very quickly! Praise God for His timing and faithfulness. We lived in our apartment for 6 months, until we bought a house! For the past 6 months, we have been trying to adjust to our new jobs still, the new area, and get our house in order. I LOVE our house. We still would like to do some things to it, but we got a great deal and it's awesome. :) I also really love my job. I start back up with kids on Aug. 29 and I am excited. Chris starts tomorrow with kids!

Let's see...what else? Well, as I'm sure you know if you're reading this...we are pregnant! I am 22 weeks now, which is crazy. The pregnancy has been going well. It started out with me being VERY tired. Like, me coming home from school, eating dinner, and passing out on the couch by 5:30 or 6 and sleeping until 5 or 5:30 when I got up for work (except getting up to go to bed in there). Then, I began feeling sick. I didn't really GET sick...I just felt like I was going to...constantly. I got really mad at this "morning sickness" idea because it was definetely not just in the morning, it was ALL day and night. Next, I got the hives. That was HORRIBLE. Oatmeal baths and benadryl saved me as I have never itched so much in my life. I pushed through and did not miss one day of work through it all. :) People kept telling me that I would feel better by the 2nd trimester. Lies. Don't believe people. hehe. I heard that if you didn't feel better by then, it would last the whole pregnancy. Also lies. A few weeks later (prob about wk 16 or so) I finally started feeling better. My stomach went on some angry spells, but over all was better. As for now? I still have to eat constantly if I don't want to feel sick. I still have days where my stomach bothers me, but am doing much better. I have the most ridiculous dreams that are SO vivid and intense I wake up exhausted...like every night. Oh, and I was having this horrible hip pain, which has calmed down. My knees crack everytime I bend them and my lower back hurts...but that's no surprise. But overall I feel great. I am getting very excited and it is becoming real! July 29 we went to the ultrasound, which was amazing. We got to see the brain activity, the blood flow and beating heart, and our baby moved it's hand to suck it's thumb...or fingers. Very cool. We also decided not to find out the gender. I have started to feel it kick recently too, which is fun. Today in church baby was going crazy. Chris said that he/she must like the music. :) That makes sense with us as parents.

I will try to update about how things are going with the pregnancy and baby. I know a lot more people are interested in our lives now that we are bringing a baby into the mix! :) We are so blessed and excited about what God is doing in our lives. We will be the best parents that we know how to be and pray that it's good enough!