Zantac 150

After months of pain, gagging, and what I refer to as fireballs in my throat...I finally gave in and bought the OTC Zantac 150 my Doctors said is okay to take for heart burn. Why did I wait so long!? The last two days that I have been taking the Zantac have been night and day difference from before. I no longer have the fireballs in my throat, the gagging, nor do I wake up throughout the night because of it. It's like I've entered a whole new world of pregnancy!

Cute picture of my little helper this morning while I was taking my bump shot. I am pretty sure he thinks we humans are crazy...

34 Weeks

There she is, soon to be the most beautiful girl in the world! For now she is just the most beautiful girl in my belly. :) It was amazing to see her yesterday and somewhat took my breath away. She looks so much more like a little person now, and we even saw her looking straight at us which was the best. We have one picture of that but she has her hand draped across her face so you cannot really see her the way we were able to in the room. She measures in a bit smaller but still healthy at 15.2cm and 4 lbs, 12 oz (goal is 5 lbs). She is in such good health that we have officially been released from seeing the perinatal specialist!

To celebrate we had dinner last night with our neighbors and Miss Sallie at Japanese. It was delicious as always and Ben claims it is his "last supper" of indulgence because he is going to be getting up and working out every morning. Not sure how well that is going since this morning he was sleeping peacefully with two dogs nuzzled up against him.

We will give him a pass because he did have to head out last night to rescue our friends from the ATL airport. After the drought we were in last year who knew that this year we would be dealing with storms and rain in the only every 100 years category. Thankfully our house sits up high enough on a hill that we have been protected but many people in Atlanta have literally lost their entire house. Highways are shut down all over the city and in our county alone there are more than 156 roads closed! I made it into the office today via carpool but will not be surprised if they ask us to leave early again today. Anyway, our friends the Hammonds were stranded in the ATL airport last night due to the storms and Ben rescued them. I only got to see them for a few moments this morning but they all look great and are expecting number 2 this March 27th. :) Just in time for them to move to Atlanta and hopefully live close to us so our babies can play together ALL the time!

I'm beginning to ramble on so I will stop for now. I forgot to take my 34 week bump shot this morning but will try to get it later today or tomorrow morning. I think I am having one of those giddy "I-get-to-be-a-Mommy-and-meet-my-baby-girl-very-soon" days. Still amazes me that you can love someone so much that you have never met.

Nursery Updates!

Officially Wiped Out

I had read and heard that the last few months are the hardest and boy are they! I can get through the day at work, for the most part, but as soon as I get home I am spent. I was up at 4:30 this morning and could not go back to sleep. I guess I should not be surprised to be tired now that it is almost 7:00, but it is difficult to try to get to the grocery store and cook dinner. I was able to get to the bank for that errand and to the drug store to pick up my iron medication, but that's it. I have promised the boys a walk and hope to at least make that happen. How do women do this when they already have a child at home?!

33 Weeks

Only 49 days to go, is that possible? While it certainly feels in some ways like I have been pregnant forever, in other ways this special time has flown by. She is starting to run out of room and her movements are less spastic but full of force. I cannot wait until we see her again on Monday and get a better idea of how big she is and if they expect our due date to change at all. Can we all say a little prayer that we go close to on time?
The week has full promise but a few sad notes as well. Our kitty Ally has been missing for nearly a week, which is not a good sign. She has never left us for more than a night at a time and we are afraid she may be on a permanent vacation. :( I'm trying to think happy thoughts about her and hope that some other family met her and fell so in love they could not resist keeping her. We are continuing to look for her and with any luck I will look out my back door and see her beautiful black kitty face.

This past weekend was the first I had to spend with Ben being away. :( It was difficult having him gone but I was surrounded by good friends and family to help ease the separation. Nana came in for the weekend and on Saturday Sallie and my good friends Shyann and Jill hosted an Atlanta style shower for us. It was a blast!
The food was delicious with fruit trays, Macaroni Grill, and the best crab cakes I think I've ever tasted. Round that out with cupcakes and red velvet cake from Piece of Cake, and I call that one tasty afternoon. It was great to bring my friends from work, home, and family all together in one room. I cannot believe how blessed I am to have such great support both near and far. Moving to Atlanta was another difficult transition at first, but the friends we have made here have created a place we are not sure we could ever want to leave. What a blessing.
On Sunday, Nana and I ran some errands to finally pull the nursery together. Finally pulled the trigger on her rug, bedding, and draperies (still not hung, woops!) We spent a couple hours at Pottery Barn and I think left with half the store. I am still in shock that I chose bedding with paisley in it but it is somewhat fitting that the first paisley I have ever liked I put in her room. I am really pleased with how everything looks so far, especially once we organized all of her wonderful gifts and got them put away-FINALLY!
For how much we got done it is frustrating me how far we still need to go with only a little over a month left. I have not gotten her any bedding for her beautiful bassinet from Auntie Lindsay, which is where she will be sleeping first. And outside of her crib she has NO furniture in her room. That's right. I do not have a glider, changing table, or any other place to set stuff. I'm really hopeful that over the next few weeks of September that we can get the final pieces in place. My ability to move around has quickly been waning. I know my body is working extremely hard but I'm still not used to being so slow.
On top of our fun time at home, Emory won both their games! First game 1-0 and second game 2-1. That makes their current season 3-1-1!
Pics are below but you can also click on these links to see: Madison Rug, Fairy Bedding, & Paisley print of bedding.

32 Weeks

How cute is that baby boy? :) I am pleased to say that my darling, fabulous husband put together our stroller and our bassinet this weekend. With only 8 weeks left to go I am becoming increasingly stressed about being "ready" for her arrival. Now that we have the car seat, stroller, and a place for her to sleep I feel like I have the bare essentials and can calm down...just not too much.

We went with a Teutonia which is one of my sister companies and makes one of the highest quality stroller/car seat combo on the market. So far I have been extremely please with how easy it is to put together and use, as well as the smooth ride as Charlie can attest. For the bassinet we chose the same brand as our crib and because we just fell in love with how beautiful this one happens to be. I guess by we I mean me but isn't that the same thing? The cribs are from DaVinci and so far we have been nothing but pleased. We are back and forth on what to do about furniture for the rest of her room and may end up going with some more of their pieces if we can get them here before October. Yikes we are getting close!

Yesterday we had our 32 week check up and everything is still going great with both baby and mommy. We learned that what I have been calling acid reflux is actually heart burn, and now I have an OTC way to treat. So much for self-diagnosis huh? We also learned how to sign up for prenatal classes and that we need to give serious thought to our child care plan. I spoke to our daycare of choice yesterday and they told me that realistically she will not be able to get into the school until she is 1 or older. Hmm. Suggestions?

31 Weeks

I realized this morning that 31 weeks is technically still the 7th month. GEEZ! When they say the third trimester seems to drag on forever they are not kidding. I feel like I have been in the 7th month forever. Officially come Tuesday I can claim 8 months pregnant, who would have ever thought I'd be saying that excitedly?
Today has been a funny day because she cannot seem to simmer down. I've literally had to get up and take walks around the building to get her to stop pressing and kicking on me. Clearly she does not understand that when Mommy is working I do not have time to take long strolls and rock back and forth. Does this mean that she is going to be one of those babies that has to be driven around in a car or taken on a walk to calm down? I guess if that is true it will be good to help me lose the post-baby weight.
My friend Erin confirmed today that she is pregnant with a little boy! We are so excited for them because we know they wanted their second to be a boy, and excited for ourselves because now we get to take some of their daughter Hadley's hand-me-downs on loan. And let me tell you, if Hadley Dierking is not one of the best dressed toddlers in America I do not know who is! Very exciting news and even more so because he is healthy and right on track.
I am freaking out a little because I do not feel like our nest is fluffing up properly and I cannot find a glider I like anywhere. :( I'm hoping over the long weekend and with friends in town that maybe I will get some more done but it is making me nervous as each day seems to be more of a struggle to move around. Her Granddaddy is bringing down the dresser and bookshelf so we can see what space we have and start putting her beautiful gifts away, but other than that I feel like a total nesting flunk. Feel free to schedule a visit to SOS!

Wedding Weekend-Jamie & Drew

Last summer Ben's sister said I do in Durango, Colorado with her now husband Drew. We got the whole Buerger/Bridewell/Friend clan together this past weekend to celebrate the nuptials and the soon to be new addition to their family. Jamie is due February 13th just in time to give our little one a cousin her same age. They have not found out yet what the sex is but I am pulling for another little girl.
We spent some time out on the boat where I watched as Ben successfully learned how to water ski. It only took him three tries before he could get up on the skis every single time he tried. He is my superhero. The pictures are pretty hysterical but unfortunately were not taken on my camera. Instead for your viewing pleasure I'd like to put together a little reel of my two boys with their new favorite delight of pig ears.

Charlie with his very big pig ear was so cute I was trying to get a good picture. He got frustrated with me and set it down thinking he was accommodating my wishes.

Yes, the little pap swoops in for the steal and you can barely see him turned around with the pig ear in his mouth as he scampers off.