Move-in Day!

We have now moved into our new place (making the big move from Urbana to Champaign)! We are very excited (we are pictured in our backyard after Steve successfully put together our pack n play) and I am especially thrilled that the baby decided to wait at least until now. I am 38 weeks and 1 day. At our appointment last week, our OB told us that the baby has started to drop. It could be any day! We have an appointment tomorrow, so I can't wait to hear if there is any more progress.

Here is our baby room! It is starting to come together, but much must still be done.

As you can see, our bedroom needs a lot of work. There is not even room for a bed yet! Steve, my mom, and I can work on this over the next couple of days so that we are a bit more prepared when the baby arrives!

36 weeks

Where has the time gone?? We can't believe that the day of Benjamin's arrival is almost here! We are busy getting things ready - our hospital bags are (almost) packed, we have a pediatrician, and we are purchasing last minute baby necessities. I'm feeling pretty good and Benjamin has grown so much! He is around 6 lbs now and our doctor predicts that he will be 8 lbs when he is born! He is still very active, but instead of strong kicks and punches he shifts himself around and pushes against me. He has hiccups at least once or twice a day, too. Poor Benjamin! They say that if a baby hiccups a lot in the womb, he will hiccup a lot later as well.

30 weeks! Only 10 more to go!

We have reached 30 weeks, which makes it that much more real that we will have a baby soon! The baby is around 3 lbs now and approximately 15.7 inches long (the size of a head of cabbage). He is still very active and has been kicking me as I create this blog (it is basically bedtime for me, which is the time when he tends to be most active).

Here are the happy parents-to-be! Shelley took this picture last weekend while she and Vicki (Grandma Zusman!) were visiting. We only have one other set of pictures of the two of us that my mom (Grandma Lucken!) took when she visited, so it was nice to get an updated one!

Steve is celebrating being done with teaching for the semester, although he still has a lot to do (i.e. grade) before he can move on to summer projects. I still have three and a half weeks left of teaching. My students ask me many questions about pregnancy and are excited for us! The faculty and secretaries have been very sweet as well, making sure I'm doing well. And thanks to Mr. Hunt (Bill, my student teacher) for giving me the opportunity to sit and relax during class when he teaches.

A Surprise Baby Shower!

Yesterday (4/30/08) I was surprised with a baby shower held by my Latin III students! I was brought to a classroom during lunch where I found a little party to celebrate our little baby! It was very sweet and thoughtful of them - I can't believe I had no idea what was going on. Apparently, all of the secretaries and many faculty members knew about it! The students brought in cupcakes, which you can see in the picture. from a bake shop called "The Cake Artists' Studio" and they were amazing. One was chocolate mousse with raspberry filling and the other was strawberry shortcake - they were decorated with baby booties, rattles, and roses. They also had party trays with veggies and fruit and there was sparkling grape juice.

maximas gratias discipulis meis ago!

Here are the gifts that some of the students bought for our baby boy! If you cannot read the two onesies, one has a rhino and says "Tough Guy" and the other has mommy and baby elephants and says "Bundle of Joy".

Steve with the banner that they had in the classroom. They also had balloons for decorations and they drew a picture of a baby in a bassinet on the chalkboard.

Here is Steve enjoying the cupcakes! They were very tasty.

28 weeks - 7 months - 3rd trimester!

Here is our baby boy! We had a sonogram today and it was so fun seeing how he has grown! Here is his sweet little face taken in 4D - it is amazing to see how much he looks like a real little baby! You can see his hand and arm raised near his face. The technician told us that he weighs 2 lbs 13 oz, which is right around where he should be. We saw his heart beating, with four healthy chambers. We saw his legs, feet, toes, and even his umbilical cord (as his body no longer fits on the screen at the same time, we saw these all separately). We also confirmed that he is, indeed, a boy.

We, along with our sonogram technician, love this picture. He looks like he is happy and smiling!

We thought this picture was cute because it captured him pursing his lips and his hand is clenched near his face.

A cute image of him rubbing his face with his fingers and look at how you can see where the knuckles of the fingers are!

Here he is covering his face with his hand, but what a great shot of his arm, belly, and part of his leg!

Here I am at 28 weeks and 2 days! I have quite the belly now, and it seems that I have reached the size where strangers are comfortable talking to me about being pregnant.

A new home for our new baby

We signed a lease today on a duplex located in southwest Champaign (about 6 miles southwest of our current place in Urbana). It has four bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, single car garage, fenced-in backyard, and the most exciting part is that we will have our own washer and dryer! We are so happy to find a place so that we can have a better idea as to how to plan for our new arrival. We move in July 1st, so hopefully the baby waits a couple days after that to come!

Now, at 27 weeks, our baby is the size of a head of cauliflower. He is almost two pounds and he is about 14.5 inches long. We suspect that we feel him hiccup once in awhile!

26 weeks and showing!

This picture was taken on February 29th, during my 20th week (and around the same time as our last blog entry). Our baby is the size of a banana here and you can see I am definitely starting to show!

This was taken April 9th, day two of my 26th week. Obviously, my belly has grown! This is the same shirt I am wearing in the picture above. It is a maternity top and it barely fits over my belly! The baby is the size of an English hothouse cucumber (see below) - 14 inches and 1 pound and two-thirds. He moves all the time when I am sitting and sleeping. Steve can feel him move in the middle of the night while I am asleep! He also can shake my belly a little when he kicks. We have another sono at week 28, so we are excited to see how he has grown.
An English hothouse cucumber.