Nursery Preview

Jack's nursery is well under way.  Desiree came this past weekend and helped to arrange and decorate it a bit.  We painted letters for his name, spray painted picture frames, and painted the photo mats blue.  Nico actually stayed in the crib all weekend, we changed him on the changing table, and Desiree fed him in the rocking chair.  It was a good test that everything should work just perfectly for little Jack.  And hopefully Jack sleeps as great as Nico did!  

My parents got us the furniture and crib bedding.  I just love it!  We got the rocking chair from Andy's Grandma Frieda.  It is the same rocking chair that his mom used and is actually from his Grandpa John's family.  We look forward to rocking our son in the same chair.  The bottom picture shows an armoire that used to by my parents.  It had a light wood stain so we painted it to match the rest of the furniture.  And the cutest thing is all of the tiny little clothes inside!     

99 days

That's how long we have until Baby Jack's due date.  We started childbirth classes this past Tuesday and she stressed that most babies come more than a week after their due date and that we shouldn't focus too much on that date.  I think it's too late for that.  I'm not a very patient person and waiting 40 weeks seems long enough.  Hopefully Jack cooperate and decides to make his debut sometime near December 11th. 

Yes, folks, that is a 26 week belly.

Andy used to tell me that he was 14 lbs when he was born.  I'm starting to believe him.

A few more vacation pics

We have been back from vacation since Sunday evening, but I thought I'd share a few more pictures.  These are from Andy's 14,000+ hike to the summit of Mt. Elbert.  Isn't this a beautiful sunrise?

And here are a few couples shots from a delicious sushi dinner (they cooked some especially for me) and after a nice lunch at the marina another day.  Oh, I love vacation!

CO, part 1

Andy and I are spending the week up in Frisco, CO.  That means lots of hiking, relaxing, pool/hot tubing, and eating good food.  Andy has been coming up here in the summer for over 25 years.  We are looking forward to bringing Jack next year.  I told Andy that since I am carrying Jack along with me for all of the hikes this year, that he gets him next year (and the next)!

Here is a nature belly shot at the top of a hike.  I'm feeling surprising well for all of the activity, elevation, and lack of oxygen.  No problem!  It's nice that I'm able to lay out by the pool with my feet up in the afternoons.

Yesterday Andy rode up hill 14 miles from Frisco, through Copper, and up to Vail pass.  This is a really fun ride when you are coming down, but he had it on his list to ride UP it.  It only took him 1 hour, 20 minutes to make it up (and about 30 minutes to cruise down).  Tomorrow he is hiking Mt. Elbert, a 14,000ft+ elevation mountain.  He certainly doesn't stop when he's on vacation! 

Weekend in Chicago

We spent this past weekend in Chicago visiting Desiree, Lou, Nico, and my parents. We had a fun weekend! We spent Saturday at the Air & Water Show downtown Chicago. Everyone piles onto the beach and watches the planes, sky divers, and other stunts. It was pretty impressive!

Cute Chiappetta family picture!

And I had to post this one because you can see Nico's red ear plugs. He was totally unfazed by them.

I have been reading in some of my pregnancy updates that many expectant fathers gain weight along with their wives during pregnancy. Well I had my 24 week appointment today and we figured out that Andy has lost exactly the same amount that I have gained so far...hmmm. I guess that's what happens when he's triathlon man and I'm a preggo mama! Do you like the comparison in these two pics?

It's a good thing summer is almost over. I'm not sure everyone will want to see my bare belly before long! We also brought back furniture that my parents got us for the nursery. I will have to save that for a post in itself.

Tomorrow we head to Colorado for a week of hiking and relaxing in the mountains.

We're really looking forward to it!

Pregnancy Notes

I have kept a post-it in my purse and have tried to write down little pregnancy notes here and there. I know I will want to compare in the future. So here they are...

• Found out I was pregnant on Friday, April 3rd. I was exactly 4 weeks along.
• The first symptom that I had which made me think I might be expecting: Thirst! I'm usually never thirsty and hardly drink any fluids. Not now!
• First person I told: Andy, of course. I gave him a small frame that said "It's about time we start calling you DAD!" (Side note, he used to ask me if I was going to call him dad when we had kids. I think this is because his dad usually calls his mom 'mom'.)
• We told our family the news around 8 weeks and then our other friends shortly after.
• I felt really good until 6 weeks.
• I only got sick twice, both in the evening, once at 7.5 weeks and once at 10 weeks. There was a lot of nausea up until about week 13 though.
• From week 6 - week 15 I was more exhausted than I ever knew imaginable. Thankfully that is over with!
• We first heard the heartbeat at 11 weeks. So neat!
• We had our first ultrasound at 12 weeks. After seeing the baby's profile, I thought he looked just like Andy!
• My stomach really popped overnight at 14 weeks.
• We found out we were having a little boy on Thursday, July 23rd. We were both so excited!
• I first felt the baby move at 14 weeks while at Desiree and Lou's. It felt like my stomach was dropping.
• Andy first felt the baby move about 17 weeks. At 21 weeks you can see my stomach moving from the outside.
• Foods I'm liking: Lucky Charms cereal (not a usual fav), TONS of fruit, sweet gherkin pickles, green olives. Bakery type sweets aren't appealing at all. I'm also drinking lots of water, milk, and juice. Coffee was easy to give up until recently. I usually have an iced coffee each morning in the summer so I am missing those. Andy has made me up a few decaf ones to substitute.

I'm sure I'll have more to add to the list, but that's all I've got for now! Let me know if I'm missing anything.

The story of Jack's Blankie

As many of your know, I have inherited my mother's appreciation for fine textiles (like 1,ooo thread count sheets). This appreciation for nice fabrics started long ago. Well one night in college I ran into this cute boy who was out with his friends. We kind of knew each other and he came up and gave me a hug. Well he was wearing the softest shirt I have ever felt. I still remember that night. We started dating just a few weeks later, thanks to a few accounting study dates:). Fast forward about 5 years as we were going through our closets getting stuff ready to sell at our garage sale. He had that shirt in his pile to sell. I told him that I was going to keep that shirt and if our baby was a little boy, I was going to make him a blankie out of it.

I kind of forgot about it until this morning. I decided it was about time that I sew something for our little baby Jack. The blanket measures about 25"x25" inches. The main blue panel is the from the back of the shirt. Because the arm holes were cut into this, I added the small triangles of the fun fabric to keep it square. I picked up some great fluffy, soft fabric for the backing and then lined it in brown satin. I hope he likes it.

And for those of you that like to keep up on the expanding tummy, here's a shot from today (about 21.5 weeks). And the coolest thing...you can see my stomach move from the outside now when he's moving!