Belly Pictures and NC Shower

I said I would post some more belly pics...so here they are.  I have also included some really REALLY sexy pictures of my feet!  Nobody ever told me pregnancy could be this incredibly hot! :)  I hope it doesn't really gross you out and you will still be my friend.  

I also had my NC baby shower that my friends Amanda, Laura, and Lindsey put on for me.  It was great.  They measured my belly...and we played bingo with the gifts people gave me.  I had about 5 people from work come and the rest were fellow ortho wives.  I am really spoiled...a shower in Denver, one here, and I have another one this coming week that the girls at work are hosting.  WOW!  It is a bit overwhelming.  Bret and I are lucky we have made so many good friends here :)

There are also a couple pictures from Bret's Duke Ortho Christmas Party.  I had to wear scandals...bc...well...just look at the feet pictures!  It was great hanging out with our friends and meeting some of the people bret works with.  

So I am starting to get very uncomfortable with being pregnant and am ready to meet my little one.  I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions for the past two weeks and some are even about 5 minutes apart.  My OB says this is good...and this "prepares" my uterus for labor.  It could be any day now...or another 4 weeks.  The sooner the better sounds good to me right now-as long as she is healthy!

Sorry so short- i really wish i could write more, but i am exhausted and off to bed (even though i will probably sit there awake!  sleep has not been easy).

Baby Shower and Kaia's room

Hmm...i dont know what happened to the last month!  I was planning on posting some baby shower pictures right when i got home-but obviously that didnt happen.  So here are some now!  The Shower was awesome and overwhelming all at the same time.  I mean look at all those wonderful gifts for our baby girl.  I also felt really strapped for time- there was so many people i wanted to catch up with and i only had a limited amount of time.  Sad day. :(  

It was great being in denver.  Steph and Rach both flew in from San Fran...so it was just like old times for a bit- Steph, Rach, Cass, Mandy and I all got to go to our favorite restaurant- Old C's and pigged out on junk food.  I miss everyone so much.  Denver and San Fran are just TOO FAR AWAY!!!  There are a couple pics from that night as well.  

I also got to enjoy some much needed time with my family.  Look at how cute my sister and i are together.  It is pretty crazy that we are only 4 weeks apart in our pregnancies and both are having girls!  If only....i know...you guessed it....we lived closer together :)

Okay...I am sure much more has happened in this last month- but i am not sure exactly what else to say.  I put up a couple more pictures of the nursery ( a little more decorated this time).  Bret was a big help.  He even put up all the little monkey decals and dots up.  He was much more creative then i would have been and made a cute design going across the wall.  

I am so ready for her to come at this point.  No one ever really explained just how miserable things go feel when you are so close to the end.  I feel like a huge whale.  I have big elephant cankles (sp?), swollen fat sausage-fingers, stretch marks on my ass (too much info???- sorry), i cant sleep bc my hips are shooting pains all the way into my feet, i have heartburn that makes me want to puke...and ....ewww...the list goes on.  Anyone want to get knocked up now!!!???

I have a couple more belly pics to put up, but i have not uploaded them off my camera yet...so they will have to wait until next post (which hopefully wont be another month).  At that rate we might be able to post some baby pics.  I am hopeful...bc i am so over THIS!

Love you all

Kaia's Room

Here are a couple pics of the baby room.  I know...it is pretty plain right now...we need some major decoration work!  But the crib is adorable and the bookshelves are all built.  Bret still needs to assemble the changing table :)

Also...here are some pics of Ryder.  Apparently he was a very busy boy while i was at work today.  Even though he was in his playpen....he found a shipping paper...and well...you can see the rest.  

Denver in 2 days....can't wait!!!!

Bret's Week Off

Well, Bret's week off has come to a close- sad day!  He got a lot done and we got to enjoy some quality time together.

We were debating about if we should try to go up to the Asheville mountains to see the changing leaves and have a mini-vacation...just the two of us.  We ultimately decided against it due to $$$ and time.  I think we were both a little disappointed to not be going anywhere, but we still had a great time during our stay-cation.

We shampooed the carpets in the baby room, so there is no more cat puke spots or remnants of cat litter.  All clean for the little one.  We then built the crib and some bookshelves.  I say "we," but it was more like Bret building and me trying to get everything in order and ready for him (while also looking like a whale rolling around on the floor-getting around is just not what it used to be!).  Bret had a terrible allergic reaction to something that day or a mini-cold because he was sneezing, sniffling, wheezing, and snotting NONSTOP!  Luckily for both of us this only lasted two days and then he was feeling better.  Poor kid-he gets one free second and BOOM...he gets sick.

Besides working on the baby room we enjoyed some great meals together and lots of movies on the coach in our cozy living room with the other kids (Junc, Mekhi, and Ryder).  We even had a fire going one night (it was cold)!  

On Thursday we went to my 28 week OB apt.  It started with a fun drink of super-sugar drink for my glucose test.  We then went for an ultrasound (they could not see Kaia's face and head at my 20 week ultrasound).  She still had her head way down in my pelvis- but we were able to get a couple good looks at her face.  She def. has Bret's lips.  We couldn't see much more than that because she had her head smashed in the placenta (apparently a really nice pillow).  We were SHOCKED when the sonographer said that she had long legs...and was in the 68th percentile for 28-weekers.  Bret was like, "maybe this is my chance to get into woman's basketball"  haha- she will probably grow out of it??  She was small for her age last time i went it- guess i have been doing a good job feeding her.  My glucose test came back as normal- so all is good.  They also forced me to get a flu shot...EWWWWW...i absolutely HATE shots.  I felt sick the rest of the day from it and got a huge swollen-red- welt from it.  I better not get the flu this year!

Hmmm..i am sure we did so much more- but i guess those are the highlights.  I will get some pictures up of the room..hopefully later this week.

love to everyone!

New Hair at 26 Weeks

I know...i know..i said i wasn't going to cut my hair and that i was growing it out...but i just needed a change.  I LOVE it!  I always love my short hair, I don't know why i keep trying to grow it out anyway.  It dries much faster :)

Okay...so check out the belly.  It is getting really big.  She had the hiccups for the first time this week- that was really neat.  She was also going crazy this morning- she must have been dancing because my WHOLE stomach was jumping and twitching.  It is pretty amazing to feel all the life in there.

Bret likes to feel her move- but he is more concerned about what she is going to look like  when she comes out.  He keeps on talking about..."i just want to know what she looks like!"  Well...we still have a while to wait for that!  It is starting to feel like forever.  Will January ever get here?

Bret has vacation starting next week, which is is really looking forward to.   He already has WAY too much on this plate for the week (i know..we wouldn't expect anything less)!  He is going to shampoo the carpets in the baby's room, build the crib and bookshelves, clean the garage...workout twice a day...and of course the list goes on!

Oh ya...I think most of you have heard already, but we have figured out our baby girl's name...we just cant agree on how to spell it.  Any suggestions or comments are welcome.  She is going to be Kaia Corrine Peterson or Kya Corinne Peterson.  Bret likes Kaia and I like Kya because i think it is more phonetic and people wont mess it up as much.  Let me know your thoughts.

Love you all and cant wait to see you at my shower!!!

Our Baby Girl- Family US 9/9/08

Our Baby Girl is 17/18 weeks in these pics!  It was a family affair to the US clinic.  Grandma Linda, Papa Tom, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Chase, Grandma Susan, Papa Donny, Uncle Prent, GG Barb, Great Papa Carl, Cousin Lindsey, Surrogate Grandma Terri, Great Uncle Dave, Great Aunt Virginia, Cousin Ben, and Jon were all there in attendance for our baby girls first performance. 

Bret and I were able to go into the Ultrasound room first (by-ourselves).  She was butt-up and ready to show us her gender right away.  She was def. not shy!  It was absolutely amazing seeing her again!  It make everything seem that much more real.  It was Bret's first time seeing her- as he had to work for my first 9 week ultrasound.  I think he was amazed :)

Our whole family then joined us in the US room and we enjoyed 2o minutes of watching her.  She made some good faces at us and showed off by kicking me a couple of times.  She moved around quite a bit...but by the end of the ultrasound session she was back in her comfy position, head down with her butt straight up in the air. 

Aug Trip to Breckenridge Colorado

Just decided to start a blog..and there is no better time then...NOW!

Bret and I just got back from a fantastic vacation in Breckenridge where we finally got to spend some quality time with our families :)  The week was off to a rough start!  On our first day we decided to start on a easy bike ride from Breck to Frisco...on a nice PAVED path.  We were having a blast and really enjoying ourselves-when...Prent decided to go off-roading.  And off-roading he went.  He flipped over his handle bars and got some nice road-rash, an AC Separation, and a bruised knee.  After a trip to the Emergency room...the good news was..no fracture!  That was trip numero uno to the hospital that day.  Later we were enjoying a nice dinner in the condo when Chase decided to take a quick little nap in the mac-and-cheese pot on the kitchen counter.  Turns out he had not had anything but a beer (no water) to drink and was super dehydrated...leading to a fainting episode...and trip #2 to the emergency road.  These things usually happens in 3's and we were just waiting for someone else to go down.  Luckily- we made it the rest of the vacation with no more trips to the hospital.

We went on hikes, walked in town, went swimming, hot-tubbing, and of course went shopping.  Oh ya...and dont forget the eating part.  We did lots of that!  I am so glad I am no longer nauseated.  I really enjoy food :)  We had great weather until Thursday night when a huge cold front came in and it actually SNOWED.  Man...Colorado is wacko!

Bret had to head back to Raleigh on Sat, but I was able to stay and went to hang out with my AMAZING girlfriends.  That was much needed.  I really miss them.  Then back to NC I went- sad day.