2020 Predictions

As is my tradition... I like to try to make predictions for the next year.  It still amazes me how many things I get right... and how many I don't!  I can't believe that at the end of 2018, our trip to Alaska wasn't even on my radar for a prediction last year!

• BIGGEST prediction is that we are going to have our baby girl this year!!  I think that she's going to come during the week of Jan 6th!  
• I think that baby is going to come out with a bunch of dark hair like her daddy! 
• I am planning on breastfeeding baby!  Wish me luck!
• I'll be on maternity leave throughout the first half of the year, and I'm hoping to get some play dates with Becky and Hannah during that time!  I'm hoping that we'll get to do a few things together throughout the spring/summer!  I'd love to do a zoo trip or two!  
• I really want to see Fiona, the hippo while she's still a baby at the Cincinnati zoo, I'd love to be able to make that happen this summer!
• I'm not expecting to knock off a bunch of bucket list items off our list this year...  I think things are going to be a bit more basic/low key while we are on trips this year.
• I'm going to predict that Cody is going to get a new position within the metro parks.  I have a feeling that he might end up switching to a different reservation or position this year.
• In March, we are taking baby to Myrtle Beach...  I'm hoping that this won't be a disaster!
• In October we are planning on going on our LAST trip to Vegas!  And we'll be bringing baby and my mom with us.
• Over Thanksgiving my dad's side of the family are going on a family cruise to the Caribbean on the MSC line.  I hope that we all have a blast doing this!
• I'd like to get back into going to the Cleveland Photographic Society.  I kind of fell out of going to meetings this year, but in 2020 I'd like to re-attend a couple photo shop classes and go to more photography meetings.

Those are my 2020 predictions!  I'm sooo excited to see what 2020 brings.  I know that once we have our baby our lives will never be the same, and I'm sooo excited/ready for that change!

2019 in Review

As usual 2019 was another great year for us!  This was the year of BABIES!  :)  

First baby of the year was my cousin Shawn's new baby girl, Lucy.  She was born on 1-6-19.

In February we went to Orlando.  We did a one day park hopping ticket and visited all of the "new" things at Disney at the time.  We also went to Universal and the Braves spring training games.  And we stayed at the wonderful Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort which we absolutely loved!

Hannah's baby Maia turned 1 Years Old and I was able to take her 1 year old pictures!

Later in March we went down to Columbus to watch North Carolina play in the March Madness Tournament!  We also got super lucky and the team went to the bar/restaurant that was right next to our hotel so we got to see the guys!

This year Cody and I started to setup our "trying" for a baby.  We had tried basically all of 2018 with no results, so I ended up getting an Ovusense nightly monitoring device and we started to see a couple of doctors looking into fertility issues.  I ended up getting a HSG procedure done in March that put dye in my tubes and cleaned them out.

April 1st - April 4th

We went to Vegas again in April!  We got to see Penn and Teller for the first time (we've been wanting to see them for years).  My mom, aunt Karen, and uncle Gary were also in Vegas during this trip, and we all went to see the King of Tournaments with them at Excalibur.  It was without a doubt the best medieval times type of show that I've ever seen!  It was sooo much fun!

In Vegas I crossed sky diving off of my bucket list!  It was one of those "sounded good, but kinda sucked in actually doing it" items on my bucket list.  I think this is one of the only things on my bucket list that I've crossed off and I'm like... yeah NEVER again!  Haha!

On May 6th we found out that we were pregnant!!!   Cody and I were soooo thrilled about this!

 After a super long wait, Game of Thrones finally ended in May.

In June Cody's mom retired and we got to go to her awesome retirement party!

On June 10th we got to go to our first Ultrasound appointment!  And we got to see our tiny little baby and have our pregnancy officially confirmed!

On August 22nd we found out that we were having a baby GIRL!!  

On our trip to Alaska, Cody surprised me by buying us first class plane tickets!  Another bucket list item completed for me!

Our cruise left out of Seattle.  Seattle was another bucket list item for me!  I've always wanted to go there, and we had a blast during our tour of Pike Place Market.

Which leads to our major trip of the year!  Going on our Alaskan Cruise!  Cody and I have literally been talking about doing this for 6 years!  And we decided that once we were pregnant it was either a now or never type of thing, and this was a "bucket list" item for both of us... so we HAD to go!

We were able to eat King Crab in Juneau Alaska!  Another bucket list item for me!

Another item off my bucket list was going on a dog sled ride in Alaska...  again this was one of those things that seemed like it would be SO cool, but in reality it wasn't what I was picturing.

But this trip was absolutely gorgeous!   We had so much fun going into all of the ports that we visited.  The weather was unreal while we were in Alaska... we were SO lucky.

In September we had a baby shower for my Preggo Buddy!  Becky is about 9 weeks ahead of us, which has been super exciting for us all year!  We have talked and gotten so much closer this year over baby stuff!  From us both trying to conceive, to both of us now having babies just a few months apart from each other!  So exciting!

Cody and I took a 6 week birthing and baby class to get ready for our baby girl!

Next up was MY baby shower in November.  My mom worked SO hard for so many months to plan this baby shower for us.  My mom, Becky, and Hannah planned such a wonderful baby shower for us!  We felt so much love from everyone!

The next week, my work threw me a baby shower that was sooo sweet of them!

On November 13th, Becky had her baby girl, Abigail!  We are so excited and happy for them!  And we can't wait for our girls to grow up together!

During Thanksgiving, we went back to Hancock and had our last shower which was thrown by these lovey ladies!  We loved getting to see everyone and appreciated everyone coming to our shower!

December was a whirlwind of trying to get ready for Christmas and trying to get ready for the baby!  I feel pretty good with all of the things that we've bought and set up in our house for the baby!  I've also been trying to read a bunch of baby books, watch different programs, and just try to get ready for her!  I feel good that I've completed all my "to-do lists" and I don't feel like there's much more that we can do until she gets here!

Christmas Eve, we got probably the last ultrasound of our baby girl!  They were projecting that she weighs about 7 lbs 10 ounces already!  And the doctor thinks that she could come any day now!  We are soooo excited for her to get here!  It's pretty much consumed us this whole year.  We can't wait for 2020 and what it brings with our baby girl!

Week 37 and 38

Week 37 was the week of Christmas!  So obviously it was a very busy time!  We told our family Kayla's name at Christmas time.  I had gifts from her for both of my parents.  I was really excited to get a Minnie and Mickey for Kayla at Christmas, and we got a really nice baby book that I'm going to start filling in soon!  Plus dad made some really nice pictures to hang up in her room so I'm excited to get those up.

On Christmas Eve, we got to have an ultrasound of the baby!  The doctor thought that she was measuring big so they wanted to see how big...  Well... they were projecting her at 7 lbs 10 ounces during the ultrasound!  So looks like we are expecting a big baby!  At that appointment, my cervix was 1 CM dilated and was soft.  That kind of surprised me, because I hadn't really noticed a ton of contractions prior to this.  My doctor told me that they would give me an option of getting induced during week 39 if I want.  Which... I'm pretty sure that I do!  I'm a planner and I like to have a date set.  As a matter of fact, I was hoping that I was going to get to pick a date today during our appointment, and I was really disappointed to not get to.  I was hoping to have a date and be able to decide that Jan 3rd would be my last day of work...  which I still might do!  Only now I have to wait until next Tuesday for my next appointment, and then to get a date.  The doctor checked my cervix today and apparently I'm 2 CM dilated and it's very soft and baby's head is pressing against it.  So she said basically any day now!  So we're officially on baby watch.

Night time has been more and more uncomfortable.  My bladder basically ALWAYS feels like I need to go to the bathroom... and it's pretty uncomfortable... but I knew from my class that as the baby got bigger and started to drop more that the room for my bladder was going to get smaller and smaller.  My contractions have also amped up!  I've noticed them quite a bit more the last week or so. 

Cody, my mom, and I did a ton of work this past weekend to get ready for baby even more.  We cleaned up my computer room (which was a disaster before, but is MUCH better now).  And we cleaned up her swing and got it put together, and I got my breast pump sanitized and put together.  I even tried it out to make sure that it worked!  Which it did!  I even got a small drop out after pumping for a minute or two tonight.  I finished up the course that Becky sent me about baby sleeping, and I've made great progress into the "What to Expect in the first year" book.  I'm at the point, where I've read months 1-3 and then all the "general" sections.  So if I don't finish everything else completely it won't be that big of a deal.  I'm trying to get through half a chapter to a chapter a day, but it's super slow going..  I'm even a fairly fast reader, but it is just taking me forever to get through this sucker!  I also went through "Breastfeeding University" course from Medela, but honestly it wasn't all that helpful.

The last thing that needs to be done is our kitchen sink getting changed out.  Cody's off the next couple of days so I'm hoping that he'll get to it.  We got a new faucet that can be turned on by touching it... plus it has a head that pulls out and sprays.  Our current one is pretty basic, and I'd like the new one up to help with bath times/cleanups with the baby.  But overall, the "to-do" list that is left is pretty minimal and only have a few minor things left on them.  Phew!!!  So now all we need is baby!  Nest is ready!  Come whenever you want baby!  :)  I can't wait to snuggle her!!  I'm really looking forward to cuddling her during the "golden hour" after child birth, and I'm sooo ready for her to get here!

Weeks 35 and 36

I didn't do too good these weeks with getting my picture taken!  Oops!  I have been SUPER swamped these past two weeks.  I was planning my work Holiday party, trying to get ready for Christmas, and trying to get ready for the baby!!  I do not think that it should be acceptable to have your baby due within a few weeks before Christmas!  Yikes!  This is a busy time of the year as it is... add in trying to read baby books and organize all of her stuff... and phew... that leads to one tired Mama!!

 I've been struggling to get my Christmas shopping done too.  I normally like to walk around and browse a whole bunch of stores and get a bunch of cool things... but this year I've been relying on Amazon more and more... thank god for free 2 day shipping!!  I did attempt to go to the mall the one day to shop, but it was SUPER slow going.  I was walking and then had to sit... and then I'd go to another store... and have to sit.  I gave up with even trying to browse on the second level of the mall at all.  I'm definitely showing a lot now!!  Quite a few people (strangers) have been making conversation with me about it when I've been out and about, and I feel like every day at work someone new asks me when I'm due and when I'll stop working.  As far as that goes, I'm not really sure...  Half of me wants to take the week before she comes off, but then I'm worried that if she doesn't come on time that I might have to burn too much of my vacation time.  Hrmm.. decisions... decisions...  It would be nice to have some time off right before she comes, and one of my biggest fears is my water breaking at work!

The exciting thing that happened these last two weeks is that we finally decided on baby's name!   Her name is going to be Kayla Charles!  Middle name still TBD...  When it came down to it, we had 3 names that we liked...  Kayla, Alexis, and Courtney.  I originally loved the name Mikayla and Cody also had it on his list of names that he liked too, but when I told him how much Mikayla was my favorite name, he kinda back off from it and said that it sounded too "exotic" for him.  After a pause, we both pretty much said at the same time... how about just Kayla?  And ever since it was a top contender for us.  I've always liked the "Kay" type of names.  For instance my two old dogs were Katie and Kaylee... so I guess that sound falls into my natural name "liking".  I'm just glad that Cody was on board with it and liked it too.  When I first liked it, I thought it was going to be a tough sell to him, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Mikayla as a name he liked on his baby name list.  Although, at first I really thought that we were going to go with Alexis, because I really really like that name too.  Cody liked Courtney a lot, because he wanted her initials to be "CC".  

In other news, I have started to notice a few Braxton Hicks contractions in the last day or so.  It actually woke me up on Saturday morning, but really hasn't happened since (but I guess today is only Sunday night).  I was starting to worry because I hadn't really noticed any of these contractions before, so I started reading up on what they should feel like.. and I'm pretty sure that I've had some before, but they just haven't hurt.  I think that I was thinking that the baby was just hanging out in a weird position before, but on Saturday I could definitely tell that it was a contraction.  Cody was at work, but my sweet Cosmo was laying right by me the whole time.  

 I was able to finish the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" and I feel like it gave me some good ideas on how to calm her down if she gets upset.  And it really made me feel like I want to hold her in a sling throughout the day when I'm up.  I had thought that baby wearing would be a good idea, but after reading this book... I'm pretty much convinced that it would be a good thing to try.  

I'm also about 190 pages into "What to expect in the first year".  This book has a ton of great information in it, but boy it's hard to get through!  I've been trying to read a bit every day, but it's over 650 pages long so it's taking up a ton of my time to do other stuff!  And as Kayla's due date gets closer and closer I was starting to feel a bit panicked by all of the things that I still need to get done (and learn so that I can take care of her!!) ... so I made a list to help me feel like I had a grasp on what I needed to do.  And luckily due to Christmas time, I have 5 days off in a row so I feel like I've actually started to accomplish a few things on my list.  I did get a really good jump on packing my hospital bag today.  I just have a few things left to pack that I'll pack closer to the time that I need them.  I also found a pediatrician that I think that I'd like to sign her up for.  I've tried calling twice already, but both times I called right after they closed and then during their lunch break... so I need to call tomorrow and lock that down.  That's probably the most important thing still left on my list of things to do!  Everything else is a nice to have... but that NEEDS to get done!  My dad gave us an early Christmas present... a BIG cabinet for our dining room.  He came over the other day and helped Cody assemble it.  I needed that done SO badly so that I could have a place to put some of her stuff that we got from her registry.  Now we don't have a huge pile of stuff on our dining room table with no place to put it.  So I feel better about that too!  Cody and I also did some work in her room tonight too.  I was able to organize all of the diapers that we got from our showers (we got TONS!!) and Cody was able to put away her books into the ottoman that we bought.  I also went through some of the bags of miscellaneous "stuff" that I had in big bags above her closet... and I organized a bunch of that.  So things are coming along and I'm happy that I'm getting things done.  I really don't want a ton of little projects left after she is born to worry about, so I'm trying to knock as much out as possible before she gets here.  Now, I need to get through this book and then Becky bought me a program to watch on tips on how to get the baby to sleep well/get into a routine... so I'd like to finish both of those before she comes, but that feels like a huge undertaking to me right now!  Hopefully I have the time!

Pregnancy Weeks 32-34

During week 32 baby started to move around quite a bit more!  At night time, she is ALWAYS moving around and Cody can pretty regularly feel her moving now.  This week I ordered my breast pump from Medela and started getting things more organized in her room.  During our doctor's appointment this week baby was measuring right on track and her heart rate was around 140.

Later that week, we had to go to down town Cleveland to Rainbows to get a fetal echo on her.  We had to do this because I was born with a hole in my heart (VSD) and had to have heart surgery when I was a baby.  So they wanted to check her out to see if she had anything.  Basically, we had an ultrasound on her where they focused on her heart, but at first they showed us her face.  First thing, they pulled her up and the tech told us that she had a ton of hair and chubby cheeks.  The tech points and goes "Oh look there's some hair on her." and then she zooms out more and goes "Oh WOW!  All of that is hair!  Looks like she has a ton of it."  So that was funny.  I bet that she has Cody's hair.  I'm expecting her to come out with a head full of dark hair.  After that, the zoned in on looking at her heart and they looked and took pictures of it for a little over 30 minutes.  At the end, the doctor came in and told us that in one of the first pictures they took, they thought that they saw a potential small VSD.  However, he said that he kept looking for it again and never did see it on any more pictures or when he looked in person.  So he thought that maybe the first picture he saw was "an article of the ultrasound" or basically a mess up in the ultrasound.  But they want us to bring her in when she's a week or two old to have another look at her heart to see if they see it.  He said that what he saw initially was pretty small and that it might not even need surgery and could heal on it's own.  Fingers crossed that she doesn't end up having what I did!  I was hoping that they would just clear her... poor baby.

 

We weren't home very much during week 33, because we went back to Hancock for Thanksgiving.  We were able to see the family and have dinner at Krista's.  Krista and Deb were able to feel the baby move while we were there!  She's still kinda stubborn and has performance anxiety to move for other people.  Above is my 33 week picture of me at our baby shower at Lydia's.  We were able to get the back room and had a since set up.  Baby really popped this week!

We had a ton of food at the shower!!

Rick with his sisters.

 Deb, Robin, and Erica

Picture of some of us while we were eating.

Sisters!  

 

The girls hung out in the back room at the baby shower, and the guys hung out and chatted at the bar.  Cody wanted to have a coed shower so that he could see some of his friends while we were in town.

He did pop into the back room to watch presents being opened.  Kelsie was my faithful present writer and wrote down what we got from everyone.

Here's one of opening presents.

Cody's aunt knits and made us a cute baby outfit.

 Amber gave us Amelia's adorable coat that I've always loved!

So thankful for these girls and how much they cared to throw us a baby shower in New York.  We really appreciated everyone coming out and celebrating with us.

Week 34 was ALL about getting the stuff left from our baby shower.  When we got home, I went to Target and bought most things left on our registry.  When I went to check out, my 15% registry coupon didn't work!  So a manager ended up helping me and gave me 15% off my whole cart full of stuff vs just my registry stuff!  So lucky me!  I also bought everything left off our Amazon registry this week.  So basically all this week, we've been coming home to package after package.  I had a doctor's appointment this week, and basically everything looked good for me and the doctor said that I seem to be having a nice healthy pregnancy.  She also gave me props for only gaining about 20 lbs during my pregnancy.  She said that I'm at a point where my uterus is too big to allow me to gain much more weight, so she's really happy with where I'm at.  The only thing that was odd is that baby is now measuring big!  She was measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule during this appointment!  So because of this, we are going to get another ultrasound of her.  The doctor said that ultrasounds are expensive and insurances don't like to have done for no reason.  So since the baby is measuring bigger than expected that gives us a reason to get to have another ultrasound.  So we will get to do that on Christmas Eve!  Early Christmas present for us!  And this week there's no doubt that baby is moving... moving... moving...  My mom was able to feel her moving for the first time this week and she was very excited.  I have started to have some problems this week... my right hip has been hurting SUPER bad.  So bad, that I actually was hardly able to even walk on Friday.  Whenever I took a step it was hurting really badly.  And I'm really nervous that this is going to be an on-going thing for the rest of my pregnancy.  Luckily, today (Saturday) when I woke up it wasn't as painful as the day before... so I'm hoping maybe it will go away.  I called my doctor and they said it could be because my pelvis is expanding to prepare for birth so it could cause my hips to hurt or it could be the way she's laying too.  They told me to see if it gets better over the weekend and if not, then I'll have to come in on Monday for them to examine me and see if I need to go to a chiropractor or do physical therapy.  Ugh!  I so hope that I don't.  I ended up buying a pregnancy belly support belt that is supposed to come in tomorrow... and that is supposed to help take pressure off of your backs and hips.  So hopefully that will help me!