Me, Grandma Isabel and my youngest cousin, Grace - in the nursery! 

Christmas 2004 - Peanut & Me @ 29 weeks! 

Woo-hoo! A snow day for me...

What a weekend - LET'S GO EAGLES! 2 weeks until Superbowl Sunday - which means January is almost over and I am that much closer to March 12th! The third trimester has been going pretty quickly for me; work and school keep me busy during the week, and now I am realizing the MANY things left for me to do in the next few weeks! Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll have our bags ready for the hospital and the nursery furniture will be in place. (Once it's set up, I'll post some pics) I had a checkup this past week and everything is going great - strong heartbeat and all. Peanut is about 4.7 pounds and about 16.8 inches long now. He/she loves to stretch - at least that's what it feels like he/she's doing in there! On January 15th, we attended our day-long childbirth class at the new hospital. It was great and very informative - we were able to see the birthing suites and the Mom and Baby rooms; the rooms are beautiful. We also got a chance to walk through the Special Care Unit and see some newborns! Being with the other expectant parents made me realize time is getting close! As March approaches, I am getting less and less patient - I can't wait to see our baby! Lately, my dreams have been anything but normal: I had a dream last night that I forgot to feed the baby and at one point I forgot where I had put the baby! I guess some of my anxieties about becoming a mom are materializing in my dreams! :) Only 46 more days - or even sooner!

Happy New Year!

Wow - 2005... I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. The holidays just went by too fast for me. It was really great to spend time with family and also get some REST! :) Well, we're well into January and I have a little over 8 weeks until my due date! Thank God, I am feeling good - I am pretty much exhausted by the end of the day - I DO work with 5 year olds!!! Little Peanut does love to move - patterns of movement are rather defined now. I can't stay in bed past 8am - I guess since I am up early for work, the baby is used to my movement by that time during the day! He/she has also found my ribs and often pushes feet up there - usually at night! I can't imagine that in as little as two months he/she will be HERE... :)

Here's a little info on Peanut's development at 32 weeks:

The baby's appearance is changing rapidly during this week. Most of the wrinkles are disappearing from your baby's face, and there may be a lot of hair on his or her head. In fact, as the lanugo hair on his or her body begins to fall off, hair is growing even faster. By week 32, some babies already have a thick head of hair, while others have only a few strands. Baby is now about four pounds and about 15.5 inches long, an incredible increase of almost two pounds from last month. In other developmental news this week, Baby:

• Will have completely formed fingernails and toenails.
• Will be able to turn her head from side to side.
• Has organs that continue to mature.
• Has sucking muscles that have matured, and will enable her to latch on and breastfeed once she arrives. (A good sucking pattern is also a sign of good brain and muscle development.)
• Will begin dreaming during sleep toward the end of the eighth month, according to brain scans. Due to her impressive brain development, her sleep will now include both REM and non-REM sleep stages.

I'll post some Christmas pics soon! Bye!