32 Weeks

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb.

Whew! 2 more months to go and I get to gain a pound a week. Gee, won't that be fun!

Big Rocks. Lots of Big Rocks

The landscaping is well under way. It is supposed to be done over the weekend or by Monday. Right now the big limestone rocks for the retaining walls in the back are being put in. This first view shows the 2 biggest walls going in behind the house.

And here's a view look straight at the house. We had one really big tree that was removed, but it just wasn't going to make it with all the erosion we've had. Once it was taken out, it really opened up the view off of the porch.

And a view of the smaller wall behind the garage.

We're still on schedule to move this weekend, so it'll be a busy weekend for us (and our family members who are helping us move everything!).

This weekend is also special because our friends Amy & Tye got engaged last night!!!! Tye is finishing his last year of law school in Houston before moving to KC to work for Baker Sterchi. Amy & I have known each other since our days of working for the Kansas Lottery as interns and she was the maid of honor in our wedding. They're coming to town next weekend for the Texas Tech football game, so I'm pretty excited to see the happy couple. Congratulations to them.

So Close to Moving!

Well, we SHOULD move this weekend! Our landscaper has said he thinks he'll be done by tomorrow, so if everything goes smoothly, than we'll be making the big move this Sunday. We're getting pretty anxious to move in.

Our friends Susan & Kenny have been great to put up with us for the past 3 months (especially since we only thought it would be 3 weeks when they offered us a place to stay!), but I'm sure they're ready to have their house back to themselves as well. We can't thank them enough for putting up with us. We're truly blessed to have friends as good as them.

Here's the living room.

And here's the kitchen/dining area.

And the front hallway. Notice the light--it has an S in it. S for Smoller! Brian found that light and we just had to have it for the front entrance.
We'll post more pictures later, but over the weekend they cleaned everything and put in the appliances. The only left to do was to finish the laundry chute. We'll be doing the walk through in the middle of the week. Woohoo!

31 Weeks

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) 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 probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Well, our Little Man definitely is moving a lot. Lately I've been feeling his legs more, because they're causing me some serious heartburn/acid reflux! But, that's a good sign. However, he sure feels a lot heavier than 4 navel oranges. I dont' know about that part!

We're almost there!

The house is almost done! Here's a picture looking into the kitchen. The island hasn't been installed yet, but otherwise it's almost done.













Looking from the living room up on to the higher level. The railing between the 2 levels is also done.












The master bedroom with paint and window trim and flooring!












This room will be the nursery. This is the view from the doorway.



The inside of the house will most likely be done by the end of this week. Next up is the yard. We're having some serious landscaping done to prevent River Smoller from washing away everything. We're hopeful the landscaping can be done by the end of next week so the house can be appraised and then we can move in. If you could pray for clear, dry weather for the next 10 days, that'd be super! We're getting anxious to get moved in.

Going to the Doctor

Well, saw the doctor again this morning. I'm going every 2 weeks now, so I'm getting more quality time with the ladies of WHG (Women's Health Group). Blood pressure and everything else still looks great. Little Man was just having a growth spurt, so we did not have to do another sonogram. The due date is still Nov. 23rd, although he's still measuring on the big side. We might just have a big baby, or we might go a little early. I'm getting to the point where I certainly wouldn't mind if he arrived a couple of weeks early!

We've got a big shout out to our friends Casey & Neisha. They're expecting Baby No. 2 in April 2009. The link to their blog is on the right side of this page. We're pretty excited for them, even if it is another little tiger!

And speaking of babies, they're all over the place. Our wonderful friends Susan & Kenny became an aunt and uncle for the first time. Susan's brother & his wife had a lovely little girl, Mylee, on Sept. 10th. She is just darling. And our friend Tina Fritz & her husband also had a girl on Sept. 10th as well (it was a good day for baby girls). They welcomed little Leila into the world.

30 Weeks

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

3 pounds feels a little on the light side! I don't know how in the world Little Man can get any bigger because it already feelsl ike he's taking up every bit of space. But, apparently there's more growing to do. We have a doctor's appointment on Thursday so see how he's progressing in size.