Patiently Waiting

Nick and I are slowly working on the nursery. I gave him a little moral support today as he put together the changing table. It looks great! I figured as we were patiently waiting, I would talk about a little friend of ours who is also awaiting the arrival of Baby B. This would be our current baby, Asher.

As some of you may know, our 4-year old dog Asher became a member of the family 2 years ago around my birthday. He was a rescue dog that had a hard life before meeting us. He lived in a hoarder's house with around 40 other dogs. Since then, he's had nothing but our undivided attention and he loves every minute of it. Well, almost every minute of it. He will never like baths, the vacuum cleaner, or thunderstorms. I can honestly say, I don't know how life would be without him. Never being a true dog owner, he's made the transition incredibly easy. I have a feeling our luck will be just the same with the new arrival in May. Life will never be the same. It will be much, much better.

We're curious how Asher will react to the arrival of a new family member.  Both of our thoughts are that he will become quite protective.  Here's a picture of our watchful guard dog. He's assumed the position and is ready to protect our little one. Doesn't he look incredibly threatening?  "You wouldn't like him when he's angry!"  Here's to you Ash-dog!

Knox Baby Shower

On Friday, March 12th, Lynn Wallsmith and the ladies in Nick's office threw Baby B a shower! They set it up like an Open House, so people could come and go as they pleased. The gifts ranged from gift cards, to onesies, to toys, and more! It was great. Many of the ladies from PEO were able to stop by, which I loved. I had a great time. Here are a few pics from that day.

Week 30

There's not much to report this week. I am excited for a shower that the ladies in Nick's office & Todd's wife are throwing me on this coming Friday afternoon. I'm anxious to see/meet some new people and I'll sure I'll have more updates to share. We haven't done too much more since last week in preparation for Baby B, so I thought I'd share some of the email updates on the baby's growth that I receive from thebump.com and fit pregnancy. I always enjoy them:

At week 30:

The baby's length is about 16 inches - about as long as a laptop computer. The weight is approx 2.5-3 lbs. The baby has doubled in size over the past 6 weeks. He/she is floating in about 1 1/2 pints of amniotic fluid with some room to move. (I feel it!) Right now the baby's grip is strong enough to grasp a finger. The baby's eyes are able to track light & some researchers say that exposing the belly to light may stimulate development. Fit pregnancy suggests: try moving a flashlight beam slowly over the belly to see if there's a reaction. (If I had a flashlight right now, I'd definitely try it. Before I can tell you if it works, I'll have to find one.)

Getting closer

Well, here we are, week 28.....and we're creeping closer to Baby B's birthday! I just received the baby's crib in the mail today and am so excited to get it up and begin the "nesting" phase. Nick and I are getting more and more excited to meet our little one. We both dreamed that we were having a girl a few weeks ago, but I'm not trusting that because I've dreamt it was a boy before. Either way, it's nice to hear from the doctor how healthy the baby is.

I have officially gained 25 pounds as of today. Here's a pic of the belly up to date. It's still growing!!

Updates

We're at week 26! Nick and I went in to visit and meet Dr. Eifrid, the third doctor at SJ Medical today. Although, I was able to say hello, he was immediately pulled into the delivery room because a woman was in labor and he was the only doctor on call. I can tell I'll like him and we'll be back next week anyway. My current weight is 144 pounds. I have officially gained 20 :-) Good for Baby B! My waist is at about 37 1/2 inches and my belly button doesn't seem like it can pop out any further, but you never know. More pics to come!

Last week my crib finally said, IN STOCK! I'm so excited! It probably won't ship for 4 weeks. I plan on buying all the furniture for the baby's room, but colors will come later. Decorating will be easier when we find out the gender. Nothing wrong with yellow and green, I just don't feel like working on that quite yet.

Baby Dance Moves

Well, Baby B has been moving for a few weeks and, let me tell you, he/she is busting a move. Every time I would tell someone to feel my stomach it would stop! Of course! But Nick was able to feel the kicks, punches, and turns a few times since. I'm glad he was the first! Right now it feels like I'm having muscle spasms in my belly. I'm sure it won't feel so gentle in a few more weeks. I'm enjoying it for now. It appears there's not enough room for my belly button, so the baby has officially knocked it out...it's pretty funny looking. Next doctor appointment is Feb 8th...I'm excited to hear what's to come in this third trimester. Almost there!

My picture

For those of you who don't get to see me very often, this is my current look. I tried to get a quick measurement of my belly from the largest point and I would say it's slightly larger than 36 inches. It's growing bigger every day. I did just get done eating, but that's no excuse! It's getting a little more difficult to bend over now and I think others are beginning to notice. I'm getting used to people pampering me that's for sure ;-)

So, even though we've decided to be surprised by the gender of the baby, we have chosen names. I can't exactly remember the day we picked these, but we've known the names we're going to choose for a while. If it's a girl, her name will be Emily Claire. Emily is Nick's Grammy's name and we both love the name Claire. And if it's a boy his name will be Clive Allen. Clive is the name we both like and happens to be one of Nick's favorite authors. Allen is a name that has traveled down the Bourff family line: His grandpa's middle name, his dad's first name, and his middle name. I thought my dad would want us to name the little one Tim even if it was a girl, but sorry dad there can only be one of you:-) You're a legend!