33 Weeks!

I can't believe I have now completed 8 months and 1 week of this pregnancy! :) This past week has been pretty fantastic...very relaxing. I could get used to being a house wife! I've made breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Of course, not every day! Lets be reasonable!), and Patrick keeps telling me that he never knew I could be so domestic! I told him I've never had so much time! But, that's all about to end...I start my residency tomorrow. So, life as I have known it for the past 2 weeks will be SO over. :(

Everything with the pregnancy is pretty much the same. Ava is rolling and kicking and punching so much! You can see it clear as day if you just watch my belly! My sciatic nerve pain is still pretty yucky. BUT, my doctor recommenced that I begin physical therapy to help ease the severity of the pain, so that's what I did! I had my first appointment this week. She gave me mostly stretches to work on while I'm at home, so we'll see how they do! :) Hopefully, it'll really help to relieve some of the pain in my back. Well, the nursery is still bare...still not sure what to do about the walls and the lighting! I think what I'll probably do is get a good, bright lamp for the dresser and put that really little one on a little pedestal by the glider. That way, if I need any light while I'm rocking or nursing her, it wont be too bright for her little eyeballs! :) Well, I'll try to post again tomorrow to let you know how day one went...but it'll be a busy next 4 or 5 days! I've got these two days at school, then I'll go straight from school on Friday to the airport to fly to Atlanta to get to Kristin's rehearsal dinner (Patrick is driving with the dogs), then her wedding on Saturday (Patrick and I are both in the wedding party...so, we have duties!), and then drive back home with the doggies on Sunday. Then back to work on Monday...my official first week...AND I'm on call!! Yikes! So, it'll be busy, but I'll do my best to keep you posted! Talk soon!

The Nursery!! A work in progress...

So, here's the start to the nursery!! Everything is painted and we've got all the furniture essentials (crib, dresser, glider)! It's still a little bare, but you've got to start somewhere! The bedding is in the process of being made (right, Michee?) and is said to be done my the middle of July when my mom's coming down for the weekend. That will make it look more finished. The wicker chair was a shower gift from my aunt and uncle, Toni and Michael, and the rocking unicorn was a gift from my mom. Cute, huh?! The mirror above the dresser was actually my Grandmother's (that's were Reeves came from) that I painted pink! I've been looking for some artwork that I like for above the crib. I've found a few pieces...but I'm not totally sure what I'm looking for. I hope I'll know right away when I see it. I'm hoping to get one of my friends to paint something similar to what I find...that way it will be an "original" and an actual painting...not a scan of someone's art. Plus, I'm hoping that route will be a little less expensive, but we'll see! I'm also at a loss for lighting. I hate overhead lighting, and that tiny lamp on the dresser is very dim. I was thinking floor lamps...maybe two of them...one by the crib and one by the dresser??? But, I have no idea. And what style, color, etc? I've learned that I'm not all that good with lighting. I feel like it's always a little darker than I like it...but I don't like overhead stuff....any help from you super artsy people?? :)

Patrick and I took a trip into Jacksonville on Saturday (the closest Babies R Us), and got a few more things that we for sure need for when the baby arrives...crib sheets, baby swing, diaper champ, etc! It was fun putting everything together. Of course, I was reading the directions as Patrick was always a step ahead of me...but he let me read them anyway! I didnt' even know he wasn't listening until I looked up, and he was already past me! Stinker. So, anyway, check out or baby swing! It's all ready to rock little Ava to sleep....just in case she comes a bit early! :)

The child has a name!!

After much contemplation, Patrick and I have finally decided on a name for our daughter! Her name is Ava Reeves!! Ava is a name that I have loved for years, and Reeves is my only grandmother's maiden name! We (well, let's be honest, mostly I) spent a lot of time thinking of names to make sure that this is the one that sounded right. We kept coming back to this name, so that's what we ultimately decided to go with! It's so fun to finally have a name! I've been calling her "The Baby" for so long, and I just love actually calling her Ava! :) I just really can't wait to see her!

Patrick and I were at the DMV the other day getting new (and quite ugly) Florida driver's licenses, and there was a little girl baby there...with bright orange fuzz on her head! I can totally picture a red-headed baby, but I also feel like the name Ava sounds more blonde! Patrick thinks I'm crazy when I say things like that....but, oh well! No telling what we'll get, but I just can't wait to find out!

So, Baby Ava! We can't wait to meet you!

Breakfast in....the bathroom???

I have a fabulous husband. First, last night, Patrick wanted to test out his surround sound and asked me to pick out a movie. I picked The Notebook. :) Not exactly prime surround sound material. But, he just kinda smiled and said okay. Very cute.

THEN, I stepped out of the shower this morning, and this is what I saw! Fresh, yummy breakfast just waiting there for me! It's like living with a cook! ....sorta. :)

Many brownie points to you, Patrick!

8 MONTHS TODAY!!!

WOW!! Can you believe it?? 32 weeks already! It is just crazy to me that I'm already this far! I remember thinking that 32 weeks sounded seriously pregnant! When I was in my 1st and even 2nd trimester, I just didn't feel worthy yet...like I hadn't actually gone though enough of my pregnancy for it to count for much. But, now I'm freaking 32 weeks!!! Only 8 weeks left!! Now, I daydream about her all the time! This break between school and residency has really given me a chance to leisurely daydream about my baby! It's been nice!

Pretty much everything is going well still. She should be just shy of 4 pounds now and is about 17 inches long! In the next 7 weeks, she'll gain 1/3 to 1/2 of her birth weight! Supposedly, I'll gain about a pound a week from here on out...that will put me right at the edge of a "healthy" limit for weight gain! I better be careful! So, I am definitely more slow moving these days! (Patrick has been so kind as to point that out to me! I can't wait for HIM to be pregnant and carry an extra 25 pounds hanging off the front of him!! ....see how slow HE gets)! Getting up from sitting is getting a little more difficult now...not just because I've got this growing belly in front, but also my back and random muscles give me a bit of a hard time. So, I try to be really careful and slow when I move so I don't hurt anything further! Also, I pretty much roll out of bed now. It's just easier that way! I must look ridiculous! :)

I had my first official doctor appointment (in Gainesville) today. Today's appointment was actually just with the nurse...like the initial visit that most mom's have at the beginning of the pregnancy. But, since I am a new patient, I had to have it anyway before I could see a doctor. My first appointment with my actual doctor is tomorrow. Their office seems seriously organized! They seem to really be on the ball! I've never heard this before, but they send all of their patient's prenatal information to the hospital every week in case a patient were to go into labor early....the hospital would already have all the necessary info....without having to wait for a fax! Seems well prepared to me! So, anyway, if there's anything interesting to write about tomorrow, I'll keep you updated!

Man! I thought this one would be short! Oh well! Talk soon! :)

Shower in a Box!!

Have you ever heard of this?? Well, it was the cutest thing! Patrick's family is spread out all over the country, and his cousin, Ashley, decided to throw me something called a "Shower in a Box." She sent out actual invitations to all of her family members who don't live in Georiga (and couldn't come to the shower). I included a picture of the invite; it has a clever little poem on it! Click on the picture of the invite to see a bigger version so you can read it! She had them send a baby gift to Barb (this was all a surprise to me), and then Barb was to present these gifts to me on the day we moved in to our new house. Ashley asked that in place of a card that people got a little book instead! How thoughtful it that?!? It was such a surprise, and people really put a lot of thought into the gifts and especially the books! Many of the books were sent from family members who have kids....so, they were already tested and approved! Everyone sent such nice things, and I LOVE that Baby K now has a small library! :) This is a pic of the diaper cake that came from Aunt Pam and Ashley (Patrick's fam)! It was seriously loaded with goodies!

Ashley, thank you so much for arranging all this! It was such a nice surprise; I really appreciate you getting everyone together for Baby K! I know it took a lot of effort and planning on everyone's part...so, thank you so much for organizing all that!!

My Fab Baby Shower!

Okay...sorry for the delay....

So, I had an AWESOME time at my baby shower on Wednesday!! :) It was at Patrick's mom's house in Alpharetta. Barb and Mindy did most of the hard work! Everything was perfect...so, Thank You, Barb and Mindy! It was so much fun! There was fabulous food and fabulous company! Thanks to everyone who came out on a Wednesday night!! We played some fun games and I opened thousands of gifts! (Well, you know...a lot)!! Baby K has so many clothes, I really don't think I'll have to buy her anything to wear until she's TWO! Barb counted (just for fun) how many onesies Baby K has...28!!! These aren't all from the shower, of course, but holy cow!! And she's got about 5 "lovies" now! I loved everything and can't wait to see her in it all!! Patrick decided that he wanted to come for a little while since it would be the last time that he saw most of the people there for a while. So, it was nice having him there. Although, he wasn't getting nearly as excited about all the adorable baby clothes as I was! He'll fall in love with them when they're wrapped around his daughter! ;) Again, thank you SO MUCH to everyone! The planners, the attendees, everyone!!! It was so much fun, and I am just getting more and more excited for her to arrive! Can't wait!!

Down and Out

Hello, hello. Well, I have been quite the slacker when it comes to updating my blog this week...so, let me explain....

I'm really yucky SICK!

I had a wonderful baby shower at my mother in law's house on Wednesday, then we drove to Augusta that night to load the Uhaul on Thursday morning, then drove ourselves to Gainesville, FL that night so we could close on our new house on Friday morning....so we could move in to our new house right after that! Which was all fine (just slightly busy) until last night (our first night in our new house)...I was up sick ALL NIGHT! :( I am way wussy, and I hate being sick...and that's what I got to enjoy all last night. It was horrible...and still continues to be. So, the busyness and my being sick have prevented me from blogging about these fun things we've been doing! But, no worries, I will eventually catch up! So, for those of you who came to the shower....thank you SO MUCH; I had a wonderful time! Baby K got so many wonderful things, and I am just so grateful that so many people were able to make it!! Some of you who couldn't make it still sent gifts, and I greatly thank you as well! I will post more about the shower along with some pictures (of course!) as soon as I'm back to feeling better.

A special thanks to Patrick's family (Barb, Mike, Sarah, and Nate) for driving all the way down here to bring our doggies and to help Patrick and I move in. We would be nowhere if they didn't volunteer to come down! They have organized the kitchen, put together all the stuff for the baby's room, washed everything possible, gone grocery shopping, already made a Lowe's trip, and a million other things! While I'm laying here in bed, I can hear all of them just working away...trying to put my house together. Isn't my family great!? :) I'm very lucky.

So, y'all just start hoping that this bug gets out of my body SOON!! I want to enjoy my new house!

31 weeks!

I can't believe I only have NINE WEEKS LEFT!!! Ahhh!! :) Totally can't believe it!!! So, it's about time, but I'm really starting to get some pregnancy pains! My back and feet have been significantly painful lately! Especially my back with all this moving we've been doing! Can't wait until everything is in it's place and I can rest my back for a while....I guess until I start doing dentistry again! :) My feet are much better this week since I haven't been walking miles and miles a day around NYC!! Something new I've noticed just this week is that I definitely feel my insides being squished around. Sometimes it's a little hard to catch a really good breath unless I sit up super straight and try to give my intestines and organs a little more room! I'm guessing that's normal?!? I imagine it will only feel more and more mushed as these next few weeks pass! But, my daydreaming of her will get me though it! :)

Oh yeah! I'm pretty sure she's going to be a professional boxer when she grows up! I think she thinks there's a punching bag in there...

Our baby has a bed!!! :)

So, I finally decided and got a crib AND a dresser for our little girl! YEAH!! I am the worst decision maker, and I am just glad to be done with the decisions! We ended up getting both the dresser and the crib from Pottery Barn Kids. The crib is the Sleigh Crib and the dresser is the Kendall Collection Extra Wide Dresser. Both will be in the espresso color! It's really hard to imagine the dresser in the espresso color; it just looks so masculine with the color shown. But, I saw some pictures of it in white, and I think I'll really like it in the dark color. The light wooden color isn't really my style, but I think the dark will look really nice! And the best part...they deliver it to me AND set it all up!! Fantastic! Can't wait to get her room situated!

OH! I think I picked out a color for her room as well. I got the color suggestion from Patrick's cousin, Ashley (Thanks for that! It's much easier to have someone else do all the hard work for you)! It's kinda a chocolate brown color...which I think I will love with her dark furniture and light pink bedding! It's called Down Home by Sherwin Williams. It's a little hard, obviously, to see what it will really look like online, but it'll give you an idea!

So, I'm feeling all accomplished! We're moving to Gainesville, FL on Thursday, so we've got a lot of getting things together to do until then! I'll post my 31 week belly pic later tonight! Talk soon!

NYC Baby Boutiques!

Here are a few pics of some of the things Baby K got while we were up in NYC!!! They're SO CUTE!!! :)

These little socks are the CUTEST things I have ever seen! When she puts them on, she'll look like she's wearing little Mary Janes! They came in like 5 colors! This was one of the gifts from Lauren! She's got great taste! I loved them so much, I looked around for more styles, and I found some that look like little slippers with a bow on them!

This onesie and sunglasses are also from Lauren! She wanted to make sure we thought of her often! How could we forget!! (Lauren lives in Brooklyn, for those of you who don't know)! :)

This pink outfit is for when she's one year old! It's so cute....couldn't resist! The little pants are connected like a onesie!

I think this one may be my favortie of the ones that we found at the boutiques! She'll fit into this when she's about 2!! I'm not sure I can wait that long! But, can't you just imagine her??!!....2 years old...running around in this little camo dress??!?! LOVE IT!!!

Click here to see the other little socks with the bow and couple other things that I didn't post!

Bikini Belly!! Beware!!!

Big, white, pregnant belly....look away now if you have a weak stomach!! :)

So, Patrick and I went down to Naples, FL this past weekend to attend a wedding of a classmate friend of mine, Kristen (and Kevin)! It was a really nice weekend...aside from tropical storm Berry coming through! Berry only stayed for about 24 hours...all of Friday. But that's alright, by the time the wedding rolled around on Saturday...it was beautiful! We were able to spend some time on a beach island the first day...and that's where the really scary bikini pic came from! I tried and tried to find actual maternity bathing suits...but NONE fit me right...it was the same issue as always. For those of you who don't know about that issue...I'll spare you! :) So, anyway, I just wore a tank top over the suit, but I got brave for a few minutes for a quick picture. So, here it is! Crazy big, huh?!

Here's a pic of Patrick and me on the beach during the cocktail hour after the wedding. The weather was perfect! I really liked my dress, although, I think my armpit fat was a little excessive! But, I keep telling myself that I'm pregnant and I'll get back in shape when this little baby comes out! :)

Here's one of us at the rehearsal dinner...those are actual coconuts on that palm tree! I was so amazed! I can't wait until I get to working and done with this school/residency stuff....then we can take our yearly vacation to the beach!!!

So, I think that's about all! We had such a nice time! I hope y'all are doing very well! Talk soon....

Hello from NYC!!! 30 weeks today!!

HELLO from New York City!! :) I'm sitting at this computer for .20 cents a minute! Sounds cheap, but it's adding up fast! But I just wanted to post for my 30 weeks...I have a 30 week belly picture to put up, but I'm not able to put it on this computer (I didn't think to bring the right chords)! So, I'll have to add that pic when I get back to Atlanta on Thursday! I am a traveling princess these days! Patrick and I just got back from Naples, FL for a wedding on Sunday, my Mom and I are in NYC from yesterday (Mon) to Thursday, then it's off to Charleston, SC for Kristin's (my BFF) bachelorette party from Friday to Tuesday! Ugh! 13 straight days of travel...like I said, a traveling princess! Things are going well, although my out-of-shapeness is really starting to kick my butt here in NYC!! My back and feet don't handle this all-of-a-sudden walking all over the place business! But, I'm managing...only got lightheaded once so far! :) I've probably walked more miles in the last day and a half than I have in the last month combined! Baby K is moving quite a bit....although she rolls around much more now than actual kicking. It's pretty cool...I can press on my stomach when she's moving, and I can feel either her butt or her feet...they're up near my ribs now! (At least, I'm pretty sure that's what I'm feeling)! So, that means that she's really growing! She wasn't close enough to my ribs to kick them even just a week ago...but she's right up under them now! I'm sure she's just perfect in there... :)

NYC has been fun! We were able to meet one of my oldest friends, Lauren, for dinner last night! She lives in Brooklyn, so I've got to see her when I can! (By the way, she bought Baby K the CUTEST stuff ....I'll post some pics when I get back...they're worth sharing)! Today, Mom and I went to a few really cute baby boutiques! Got a few things! ;) Can't wait to see Baby K in them!! Tonight, we're going to see the musical A Chorus Line! Can't wait! Lauren will actually join us for that as well! Tomorrow, we'll see two more shows...to be determined! So, things are going well...I've been loving sitting at this computer...it's given my back and feet a little needed break!

Anyway, the travel pincess is off....I'll post pics from the wedding in FL and my 30 wekk belly as soon as I get home...just in time to leave for Charleston!!!

29 Weeks and Doc Visit!

Well, one more week down! 29 weeks! I also had my last doctor appointment with my doc in Augusta today. The next one is scheduled with my new doc in Gainesville, FL! Crazy, huh?! Everything went very well. Got to listen to the heart beat again...she was at about 145 beats per minute today. Just perfect! She seriously runs from that doppler...it always takes them forever to find her! And once they get her....she moves away again! I guess she doesn't like to be bothered! We also did the glucose test today...where they check to make sure you aren't developing gestational diabetes (that's when you become diabetic during the pregnancy, but it goes away after birth). I had to fast from midnight last night until my appointment this morning. That's seriously stinks for me, because the second I'm awake, I'm STARVING!! Then, if I don't eat, my stomach feels really nauseous. So, it was a long morning...normally it wouldn't be so bad, but Patrick and I left Atlanta this morning at 5:45am for my 8:40am appointment in Augusta! So, I had to be awake for hours, drive to Augusta, have my regular appointment, AND have my blood drawn twice (an hour apart) before I could eat anything! Ugh! Not my style! :) But I made it! Then I treated myself to my favorite Mexican restaurant ever...Salsa's! So yummy!

Now I'll be visiting the doctor every 2 weeks, instead of monthly. Then, once I get to 36 weeks, I'll be going once weekly. It's getting close now!! I'm starting to get really excited! I wonder what she'll look like and how it will feel to hold her...and see Patrick hold her! :) (I'm especially excited about that)!! I just can't wait! :)

Since I'm a doctor now... ;)

...I've gone ahead and diagnosed myself with restless leg syndrome, or RLS! I just read about this in my 28 week pregnancy newsletter! I've been having a weird, and somewhat annoying, tingling in my left leg since about half way through my second trimester. It happens mostly at night...kinda feels like it's about to "fall asleep." RLS is described as a "tingling in your lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them...and it can make it hard to relax when you're settling in." They're not quite sure of the cause, but it is common among pregnant women. So, yipee! At least my body isn't just really weird. It's been happening for a while now, and I just figured it was some weird way that I was responding to pregnancy. I'm glad to know it's a bit more common! Of course, it seems to be worse when I sleep on my left side...which is precisely where I am supposed to be sleeping! So, who knows....guess I'll just continue to sleep sitting up....that is...when I actually do get some sleep...