Baby Friends

Congratulations to Megan and Christine on their new baby boys!!! Megan was due four days before me, and Christine a week after me. Andersen and Silas beat Miss 001 in making their debut this weekend, here's hoping she'll join them soon!

So happy for these ladies and their wee lads!!!

Happy Birthday Adam

Happy 26th birthday Adam!!!

In honor of my husband's 26th birthday I've decided to write 26 reasons I'm thankful for him.

1. He makes me laugh harder than anyone I know.

2. He is always gentle and kind.

3. He loves children, and is wonderful with them.

4. He always takes the time to talk me through my over-thinking dramas.

5. He is amazingly sensitive to my needs and sometimes difficult-to-decipher emotions.

6. He is so excited about our daughter.

7. He spoils me on my birthday and Christmas.

8. He takes incredible care of me without my ever needing to ask for some nurturing.

9. He encourages me to dream.

10. He respects and honors women.

11. He never yells when he's angry.

12. He likes to learn new things.

13. He never sees any goal as out of reach.

14. He is confident, but not arrogant.

15. He loves his pipe and fedora.

16. He's teaching himself to play the violin.

17. He can build and fix anything.

18. He has unshakable faith.

19. He sings and dances with me around the house like a fool.

20. He loves me enough to sweetly tell me when I'm out of line.

21. He's not afraid to speak his mind, but always treads lightly when doing so.

22. He enjoys eating healthy.

23. He has a real passion for cooking and is so good at it.

24. He loves the arts.

25. His desire to have adventures together.

26. He is incredibly handsome!

Just the first 26 of many, many reasons I am so thankful for and in love with Adam. He truly is everything I dreamed of having in a husband, plus all the things I didn't know to dream of!

*FREE* Museum Day

A friend passed this to me, and I thought I'd pass it on to you! This Saturday, the 24th, is Museum Day and museums across the country in partnership with the Smithsonian are offering two free admission tickets. All you have to do is sign up to receive the tickets by email and select the museum in your area you'd like to attend.

Provided I'm not having a baby, that's what we'll be doing!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/

Party Hardy

Last night, at 38wks pregnant, I was a very good sport to my dear husband and "partied" until 3am! Friends of ours host a yearly September Birthdays Party which includes Adam, and we were there for hours and hours last night getting our fun in while we still can! While I didn't get to enjoy the famous Varnell cosmos and margaritas, which looked so tasty, there was plenty of sinfully delicious food and belly-aching laughter.

See 001, your Mommy is a lot of fun, and a pretty good sport. We've had our fun, our lists are checked off. You can come now!

37wk Appointments

This week between the perinatalogist and midwives we know:

001 is DEFINATELY an O'Connell babe, she's measuring 7lbs 4oz which is a full pound more than most babies at this point, and a pound more than Adam at 40wks.

She is projected at 40wks to be between 9 and 10 pounds and about 23in! While it may come as a surprise to others, no one in my family is even blinking. My brother and I were well over 9lbs, my Dad was a 10lb baby, and my frousin's girls were 9 and 10lbs. We grow 'em big an Irish over here!

My perinatalogist this week jokingly asked "Is this your first baby? Are you trying to set some kind of record?!" He also mentioned, "I mean, if you've ever considered taking up smoking now might be the time...." :)

001 has continued to drop, and her heart rate has settled on a low 130. Other than that there are no signs of any impending labor.

I am at a 1, but I was last week too and there has otherwise been no progress. Today the midwives stripped my membranes "a little" with no expectation of my body being ready for labor, but with the hopes that "since this baby would clearly be just fine if she was born now" that maybe I'd have some great progress over the week. That was at 8:45am, and I have had some contractions today but they've been too inconsistent and short to get excited about. In fact, typing this I realize the last one was hours ago. No signs of baby :(

This was the first week in my entire pregnancy that I have gained no weight! Sounds silly? At 85lbs weight gain (gee, thanks thyroid) I will take what I can get!

I know being at almost 38wks (Saturday) doesn't mean much, and it could still be several weeks, but gosh I would like to be done and on the other side of this! Adam's birthday is Monday and he keeps asking 001 to come then, the ultimate birthday present! If she does in fact come closer to her due date, October 2nd, she'll be an early gift to us for our third anniversary, which would be pretty neat.

Rules for Dads of Daughters

A friend had posted this on facebook and while it could very well be the hormones, I was moved by it and thinking of both my Dad and Adam's future as a Daddy.

Rules for Dads of Daughters

1. Love her mom. Treat her mother with respect, honor, and a big heaping spoonful of public displays of affection. When she grows up, the odds are good she’ll fall in love with and marry someone who treats her much like you treated her mother. Good or bad, that’s just the way it is. I’d prefer good.

2. Always be there. Quality time doesn’t happen without quantity time. Hang out together for no other reason than just to be in each other’s presence. Be genuinely interested in the things that interest her. She needs her dad to be involved in her life at every stage. Don’t just sit idly by while she add years to her… add life to her years.

3. Save the day. She’ll grow up looking for a hero. It might as well be you. She’ll need you to come through for her over and over again throughout her life. Rise to the occasion. Red cape and blue tights optional.

4. Savor every moment you have together. Today she’s crawling around the house in diapers, tomorrow you’re handing her the keys to the car, and before you know it, you’re walking her down the aisle. Some day soon, hanging out with her old man won’t be the bees knees anymore. Life happens pretty fast. You better cherish it while you can.

5. Pray for her. Regularly. Passionately. Continually.

6. She will fight with her mother. Choose sides wisely.

7. Go ahead. Buy her those pearls.

8. Of course you look silly playing peek-a-boo. You should play anyway.

9. Enjoy the wonder of bath time.

10. Dance with her. Start when she’s a little girl or even when she’s a baby. Don’t wait ‘til her wedding day.

11. Tell her she’s beautiful. Say it over and over again. Someday an animated movie or “beauty” magazine will try to convince her otherwise.

12. Let her hold the wheel. She will always remember when daddy let her drive.

13. She’s as smart as any boy. Make sure she knows that.

14. When she learns to give kisses, she will want to plant them all over your face. Encourage this practice.

15. Letting her ride on your shoulders is pure magic. Do it now while you have a strong back and she’s still tiny.

16. It is in her nature to make music. It’s up to you to introduce her to the joy of socks on a wooden floor.

17. Never miss her birthday. In ten years she won’t remember the present you gave her. She will remember if you weren’t there.

18. She’ll probably want to crawl in bed with you after a nightmare. This is a good thing.

19. Introduce her to the swings at your local park. She’ll squeal for you to push her higher and faster. Her definition of “higher and faster” is probably not the same as yours. Keep that in mind.

20. Holding her upside down by the legs while she giggles and screams uncontrollably is great for your biceps. WARNING: She has no concept of muscle fatigue.

21. Let her know she can always come home. No matter what.

22. Remember, just like a butterfly, she too will spread her wings and fly some day. Enjoy her caterpillar years.

23. Write her a handwritten letter every year on her birthday. Give them to her when she goes off to college, becomes a mother herself, or when you think she needs them most.

24. Learn to trust her. Gradually give her more freedom as she gets older. She will rise to the expectations you set for her.

25. Ice cream covers over a multitude of sins. Know her favorite flavor.

The Carseat Is In!

For my 25th birthday my parents bought me our jogging travel system, and I have to say that it may be my favorite gift yet. There was something so exciting about finally having her stroller and car-seat here waiting and it was so much fun to have Adam assemble it all today. Now 001's car-seat is buckled in the car, waiting for her to make her appearance. My jogging stroller sits waiting for a run, oh how I can't wait to go for a run again!

Did I mention the jogging stroller has ipod speakers? Neat!

Today marks the full moon that the labor and delivery nurse spoke of last week, and aside from some on and off Braxton Hicks, there is no sign of baby.

*Sigh*

I didn't really think it would happen since there had been no indication we were tracking to meet baby today, but I have to say I had hoped! :)