Any Day Now!

Well it has been awhile since I have posted on the blog, so I thought I would post the latest photo of my beautiful wife. This was taken on July 6, prior to joining my parents for dinner to celebrate my Mom's birthday. Doesn't she look great for 37 weeks?

This past week was a big one for us. We finished our prenatal class, Megan attended a breastfeeding class, and our doctor said the baby's head has dropped into position for delivery! Megan is very excited to be nearly done with pregnancy, and said she is now mentally prepared to evict the Little Peanut. She is finishing packing her hospital bags while I write this entry.

As for me, I can't wait! People keep asking me if I am 'ready', and while I can't wait to have my turn holding the baby (Megan has been monopolizing holding the Little Peanut for 9 months) I am not sure if anyone can say they are truly ready for their first child. We have a room nearly ready, we have taken the classes and read the books, toured the hospital and practiced breathing, and yet I get the sense that this little kicker-of-Megan's-lungs is ready to wreak havoc on our lives.

Yet, I still can't wait!

We did watch and incredible DVD called "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It was produced by a well-known pediatrician and showed the "5 S's" to calm a crying baby. We will see if it works. If it does, I may suggest he rename the book "The Happiest Parents on the Block". We will let you know how it goes.

That's all for now. We will keep you posted. For those of you interested in my photos from the Red Wings Stanley Cup game see the posting below June 8. I finally updated the post Megan left for me.

July 1 Ready or not...

Well, the last month has arrived (hopefully Little Peanut will arrive this month!).

Is Matt ready? He seems to be...his Diaper Dude diaper bag arrived and is filled with the necessities. Our childbirth classes are effectively over (we just have one more week covering the topic of newborns: care & immunizations) and he is ready to keep me relaxed during labor with our breathing exercises and back massages.

Is Megan ready? Well, you would think I would be...knowing that I am normally the most organized person around, but I'm not! I had false labor contractions last Thursday night, which caused me to panic, start to cry and call Matt at work to tell him to get home (to be fair, I waited until I knew he was only doing paperwork)! I wasn't so much concerned about the contractions. No, the realization that I am not mentally prepared for the baby to leave my body really was at the heart of my craziness!

These contractions have spurred me to action & I am now washing all of the baby's clothes and blankets! I'm still waiting for that supposed "burst of energy" towards the end of pregnancy, so I can work up the energy to clean out the kitchen cabinets. Then, I think I'll be more mentally prepared to give birth. I know it's sorta weird, but I have to check things off my list to make room mentally to deal with other things.

On another note, I had a dream about our baby last night! Coming out at a whopping 10 lbs. 1 oz., our baby had black hair (mom - didn't I have dark hair at birth?) and Matt's exact eyes (shape, lashes), but blue instead of hazel. That same dream, I lost my ID bracelet (the hospital puts 2 ID bracelets on the baby & 1 each on both the mom & dad - if you don't have your bracelet on, they won't give the baby to you) so I had to answer a barrage of questions, but they finally gave the baby to me. Note to self: put that bracelet on tight!

The countdown continues...

June 19 Last Day of Week 34

As we look forward to Week 35 of pregnancy (are we there yet?), we are finally starting to feel "ready" for the baby. Thank you, Mom, for coming up yesterday to go through the gifts we received! We also went shopping for those last items that we needed to make us feel totally prepared (at least in the way of diapers, wipes, clothing, etc.).

Our Little Peanut LOVES to wake up with me during the night (on my frequent bathroom trips) and kick and move and see how long it can hold its foot out the side of my stomach! Lots of big movements that make me feel like my internal organs are being bruised! Peanut is roughly 4 3/4 lbs. and 18" long now!

Matt thinks this baby is going to punch its way into the world early. I haven't heard recently...what's the pool up to and when is the earliest and latest date everyone's guessing??

June 16 Week Three of Childbirth Classes/Week 34 of Pregnancy

This week, we saw a video depicting 2 natural births. I left class on Monday, turned to Matt and asked him what we've done?!?! We've learned a lot of breathing and stretching exercises. I need to get that "who-ha" breathing down yet. I'm still trying to figure out if I inhale or exhale on both the "who" and the "ha"? Matt laughs at me every time (I don't think he really knows how to do it right either!). I think this baby will be born to laughter and a crazy mom who can't even breathe properly!

June 8 Baby Shower Given by Friends!

A BIG thank you to Chris & Aubrey, Foley & Brad and Kate & Andy (we know you were thinking of us, while in Japan!) for throwing us such a fun shower! The Waiting, Waiting Wheat homebrew by Chris and the grilling, courtesy of Brad, made for a perfect day (I can confirm the grilling was good...I hope to try the beer after the baby is born, but everyone raved about it!).

It was a hot day, but we had fun making sunprints for the baby's room (I'll have to scan a couple to share online). Sunprints are a specially treated paper that, when exposed to sunlight with objects placed on the paper, the paper turns dark blue, while the objects stay white.

It was so great to see friends we haven't seen in awhile! Thank you all for coming!! We appreciate your support and generosity as we draw closer to that big day of not knowing what to do with a baby!

P.S. Thanks, Ty, for taking so many photos! We were slackers that day, so if anyone else has photos to share, please send them along!



This is the quilt Chris made for us! It's beautiful & incorporates both Matt and I. UM, football, music and great patterns.




























































YAY! Chocolate cake - our favorite! And, it's surrounded by more chocolate!!

This Spot for Matt's Red Wings Photos

Matt went to one of the play-off games for the Stanley Cup and got some awesome shots! This spot is reserved for when he uploads some photos for you guys!

Yes, I finally got the photos uploaded, and you can see the rest of them at www.picasaweb.google.com/mattuday/

So how did I get tickets to game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals you ask? Well, my good friend Fred had tickets and was flying in for the game with his wife. I harassed him a little bit about not having a ticket for me, so he found some on eBay. If you know Fred, you know that he always has an angle. This time he found a pair of tickets being sold by someone in California, so he figured the price would drop as the seller ran out of time to ship the tickets to Michigan. Sure enough, he ended up getting the tickets for less than face value! Thanks Fred! It was an awesome game. Go Wings!!

Childbirth Classes

Matt and I started our 6 week childbirth/childcare classes last night! The first class wasn't very exciting, unless you slept through health class in school! Good thing we got a refresher course in female anatomy! The next 5 classes look to be a bit more interesting, covering labor, c-sections, a tour of the hospital and newborn immunizations and care.

I'm nearing the end of week 32! The baby is almost 17" long and weighs nearly 4 pounds (think size of large jicama for those of you who like the food analogy! :)

The only bad news: the manufacturer of our crib is pushing back its order time. Instead of the 8-14 weeks that we were told, they are now quoting people 10-20 weeks! So, the store where we purchased the crib is checking with the manufacturer to see when we might expect our crib. Cross your fingers for us! Otherwise, we might not get our crib until 6 weeks after the baby is born!