Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Weekend Adventures

Last weekend we went to visit the Fixels and had a great time in Tallahassee.  Sarah and Will were lovely hosts and we enjoyed a relaxing weekend with the two of them.  This weekend we were finally at home in St. Petersburg.  We spent Saturday at St. Pete Beach and tried out Fort Desota Beach on Sunday which was very pretty. We decided that we'd like to try out different areas until the baby/move back to NC if possible.  Last week while in the middle of the walk, we got a little bored and decided that it would be fun to rent bicycles.  After walking out to our single bikes, we realized they had a double seater that looked like a lot more fun.  Our ride was probably the most hilarious 45 minutes I've experienced in awhile.  I was in front with my huge belly laughing as Alec was in the back with a panic stricken face because of my steering.  I'm sure it was an interesting sight for the walkers around us.  I think I"m asking for a tandem bike for Christmas 2011!


In addition to beaching it, we spent a ton of time looking for strollers/car seats.  There are way too many options out there.  My main criteria was a lightweight stroller that folds up easily and would hold several different types of car seats since we hadn't decided on a car seat yet.  Luckily William and Julie sent us our car seat so now at least our baby will be allowed to come home from the hospital with us! As far as pregnancy goes, here is a little update.  Our Bradley classes are going well so far.  They are definitely making me excited and more hopeful to follow through with a natural birth.  There are only two other couples in class with us so the class goes by pretty quickly.  I'm feeling a little more tired on my walks and at the gym than I have been in awhile.  Still sleeping well though and really can't complain about much.  After going back and forth several times, we decided to have the 3d/4d ultrasound.  It was VERY neat to see such a clear picture of the baby.  They also gave us a few moving images of the baby on a cd where you can see the baby kicking his legs and moving his hands.  Also, we decided on a baby name!  We are going to keep it quiet until the arrival, but the initials are T. A. G.

This week is my Spring Break, which I'm very excited about.  I plan to spend a lot of time reading and relaxing before our LONG drive back to NC on Friday.  We are headed back to NC for Ashley and Andrew's wedding at the Angus Barn, Alyson and Teddy's wedding shower, and finally for our baby showers on Sunday!  I can not wait to see everyone from NC.  We then will drive back to Florida on Monday.  My new job should begin that week.  I'm very excited about working in one school with small groups of students until labor instead of trying to manage 27 new wild students everyday! 

I'll leave you with some 3d/4d ultrasound pics!  Love the little guy already:)

 Hello!

  
my little feet


 I'm definitely a boy!


Ok enough with the pictures.. turning my head away and hiding behind my hands for the rest of the appointment

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Getting BIG!

We took what we think is our last scheduled plane flight this past weekend to New York.  We were able to spend some time with William and Julie (haven't been to visit them in way too long) and enjoy Jenny and Lane Teller's incredible wedding right in the city.  The weather was a bit different than what we are used to and made it a little bit of a challenge to find "winter" clothes that fit!  My stomach seems to expand at least an inch per day, yikes!  In continuing with our travel routine, we are off for a road trip to Tallahassee this weekend to visit one of Alec's College friends. 
I've been able to pick up sub jobs every day in grades K-12.  Some days are a breeze, while others can get quite challenging:).  I plan/hope to be able to sub until our baby boy decides to come.  Everyday definitely brings something new with a different grade and school.  Alec is counting down the days until his residency is over and he can start his new job in NC.   This year has really seemed to fly by!
We went to class on water birth at our hospital last week and we realized that it really will take a good 45 minutes on the fast side to get to the hospital, but I'm counting on having plenty of notice:).  While we are a little nervous about the distance of the hospital, we know that if there is some sort of emergency we can always go just across from our home to another hospital.  The people who we have talked to seem to really recommend our new (further away) hospital to the closer one because of their birthing practices. 
Alec seemed to think the idea of a water birth was a bit "odd/unnecessary" at first, but after learning more about it agrees that it is a  good option.  We start a series of 8 birthing classes on the Bradley Method tonight.  The class is normally taught in 12 weeks, but our instructor learned to teach it in 10 and she is making a special exception to have it completed in 8 weeks because of our quickly approaching due date.  I've attached a website link for the type of class we are taking if you haven't heard of it- http://www.bradleybirth.com/ .  I also put a pic of the water pool that we will have in our labor room.  
We're still having trouble with the babies name!  I think I'm just about as indecisive with this decision as I was with wedding dresses.  We've narrowed it down to around 3 and each week we choose a different one to pretend that we have selected as a final name, but at the end of the week we just can't quite pull the trigger.  Maybe we'll do a blog vote if the decision is still unmade before the next post.:)
Still feeling good over here, can't complain.  Less than 2 Months to go!  Which means, 2 months to figure out a name and actually set up for a baby boy!  So far, there have been no changes in our household to prepare for a baby. Hopefully we'll have made more progress by next post!