Work Shower

My first baby shower was given at work. It was a really lovely shower and there was quite the planning committee to pull it all together. Part of what made it so fun was how they really tried to incorporate a lot of my favorite things. I love chocolate covered strawberries and there was a lovely platter of them. A personal weakness of mine is Double Dipped Chocolate Peanuts (YUM!) and they played a guessing game with a jar of these things. And guess who got to take the contents of the jar...? ME!! I also am a sucker for ice cream and they had an ice cream cake. I felt so loved!

There also was a subtle train theme running throughout the shower.

Here are some cute little train-shaped cookies.

I always love the diaper cake decoration.

Mmmmmm....strawberries...

There was even a cutely carved little "J" on the ice cream cake for Joshua.

Time for presents.

Traditionally what happens with wedding and baby showers at my work is that people can contribute money to a group gift. When it came time to open that gift I was handed a bag and told this was part of it and that there wasn't really a card. I was perplexed that there was not card because how would I know who to thank for contributing to the gift. I just figured that detail would get worked out later. But then I opened the bag...

This was one of the cutest ideas I have ever seen. Everyone who had contributed had signed their name on this little piggy bank ans some wrote little messages. I was blown away.

There was even some money inside already to start Joshua's college fund. I love it!

The main group gift was our stroller travel system. YAY!

This little guy, Ryan, has just captured my heart. He is such a funny little guy!

Silas is the newest addition to our little work family of kids.
He is a cutie patootie too!

My mom and Jim.
It was great that they both came to the shower too.

Elective Ultrasound

I wanted to give my mom the opportunity to experience an ultrasound. Jim has been so great about coming to all my doctor appointments and ultrasounds so I never needed to ask my mom to be a stand-in. But I did think she would enjoy an ultrasound. So I looked into getting an elective ultrasound (not through my doctor).

I mentioned it to my mom and let it sink in for a while. She let me know she would like to do it and thought my dad would be interested too. I figured Jim would want to go too.

So we piled in and headed down there.

It was a nice big room with a huge flat panel screen across from me. So I didn't have to crane my neck to see the little computer monitor and the rest of the audience had a good view too.

It was interesting how different this procedure went from the medical ones. The technician had me moving into all sorts of positions to try to get the baby to move, or try to move the umbilical cord or get more space between Joshua and the placenta. She would also poke at my belly a lot to try to stimulate something.

The main problem we had was that Joshua was pressed up against the placenta as if it were a pillow. So once again we had a tough time getting good pictures. There were a few decent ones and it was a fun experience.

Here's our boy.

His mouth is open a little bit here.

I love this because he's sticking out his tongue.

The big blob extending from his nose is the placenta.

And the lovely profile shot.

Our Babymoon!

"BABYMOON"

You may or may not have heard this term. It seems to be relatively new, but not sure how common it is yet. Essentially it is a couple's last vacation without children. Jim and I went on our Babymoon this past weekend.

A co-worker recommended a Bed and Breakfast in Cambria called the Olallieberry Inn. I checked it out online and it looked perfect.

A cute little old house about 100 years old.

This was our bedroom.

We had a private bathroom, but it was down the hall a few feet. I didn't think that would be an issue, but I would think twice about it in the future.

Here's the courtyard in the back.

The breakfast area was very nice. Breakfast was served in two shifts. I realized how much I like the structure of designated meal times. Jim and I have stayed in a few B&Bs and I think the majority have left us on our own to eat when we wanted. but his way you were guaranteed to meet other people staying there. This can be a pro or a con depending on who you are. But the people we met were truly a delight and we enjoyed the conversation. There was another pregnant girl there who just charming. I would have liked to have more time to get to know her. She and her husband were from the L.A. area.

In the evening the room was converted for happy hour. Our first night was held outside, but I think it got so cool and rain-threatened that it was moved inside for our second night. They basically just serve light appetizers and some wine. Many of the guests had gone wine tasting that day, so they shared their adventures and passed around the wine they had purchased.

Here is the back porch.

I had read about a place called Nit Wit Ridge. When we saw a sign for it, we decided to explore. It was right of the main street which led to our B&B. It's a house that was built using materials found in the area. I read they give tours, but the whole place was closed off by a chain link fence, so I'm not sure what the status is today.

Friday night after dinner at the Sea Chest, we went for a nice stroll along the seaside cliffs.

Unfortunately my bladder kept us from going to0 far.

But it was really nice to sit on a bench for a while and just relax. Something Jim and I both really needed.

Saturday we took a tour at Hearst Castle. Jim has been there many times, but I haven't been since I was an early teenager (or so).

Our tour guide was Steve Martin.

I was very impressed with the attentiveness of our second tour guide (who gathered up the rear of the group). Very early in the tour, she approached me and made sure I knew where I could sit down and that there would be water available during the tour. I told her I might need a bathroom at some point and she said to just let her know and she would help me out. When our tour stopped near a water fountain, she made sure I knew it was there. Then in one of the rooms of the main house which was extremely warm, she checked in with me to make sure I was okay. I was just really impressed with that kind of treatment.

Jim and the Neptune pool.

The front of the main house.

The Roman pool.

Our route home kept alive the Campbell tradition along Santa Maria Creek Road. It's a nice windy road that Jim just loves to drive. Once again my bladder made itself known and I held on for dear life as I tried to cushion all the turns and bumps.

All in all it was a nice trip and we are so glad we were able to do it. Travelling will be so different once our little one arrives.

Hospital Tour

Just got home from the hospital birthing center tour. We get a huge private suite and they have all just been remodeled. I'm so excited now that I've seen the room and can start visualizing. Let's do this thing!

Nursery Progress: Dressers

This weekend I tackled the big, dreaded project of redoing the dressers. I have been putting this off as long as I can and finally buckled down and recruited my mom to help me sand down the dressers on Saturday. It actually went much faster than I anticipated and I was very relieved.

One dresser is a tall Ikea piece that will be used as the changing table. It was a light natural wood.

The other dresser is a low, long one that has been my dresser since I was a little tyke. It feels really weird to be changing it. As my mom and I reminisced about when it was purchased for me, I was reminded that my parents bought it unfinished and stained it themselves. I had completely forgotten. I had the dresser, a corner desk and a bookcase. The corner desk suffered a termite fate and I threw it out several years ago. My waterbed was also wood, but I'm not sure if that was bought at the same time as the other pieces.

Between the two dressers, there were 13 drawers to paint. Here we are after sanding and before painting.

Here I am with a belly and a paint brush.

Sunday was painting day.

I got almost all of the painting done on Sunday, but had a little to finish on Monday.

Here is what the dressers looked like before...

And here is the after...

Now I'm on the hunt for some really cute drawer pulls for the long dresser. I have found a potential at Lowe's, but am still looking around.

My mom also has been working hard on the bedding and the skirt is done!

Here's a shot of the skirt on the crib.

*A little shout out to my mom...she won six blue ribbons in a ballroom dancing event she had on Sunday. Rock on mom!!

30 Week Update

Friday we had an ultrasound. The main reason for this ultrasound was to check on the position of the placenta. At the 20 week ultrasound, the placenta was low - which if it doesn't move can mean delivery would require a C-section. It's pretty common for it to be low at 20 weeks and the likelihood of it moving was very high. So this was the appointment to check on the progress. We are so happy to know that the placenta has moved up and away from my cervix.

Our little munchkin is getting bigger and filling his face with fat. He's not so alien looking as 10 weeks ago. The technician gave us a nice tour of Joshua's body - head to toe - and he is in great position. He even seemed to be acting a little ticklish as she was showing us his feet.

Here is a pretty decent profile shot...







We have supposedly 10 weeks left and I think it's going to go by pretty quick. We have our hospital tour Wednesday night and this weekend we're heading to Cambria for our "babymoon". Then shower season begins. I'm looking so forward to seeing my friends and just celebrating everything. We are so grateful for how relatively easy this pregnancy has gone. There seemed to be so much potential for risks or complications and God has been very generous in answering our prayers and blessing us with a wonderful pregnancy.

28 Week Update

Friday we had our 28 week appointment. It was a very good appointment with lots of good news.

I had taken the glucose screening test two weeks earlier and for some reason was really worried about the results on this one. Not entirely sure why, but just was. I was very happy to learn that the results were fine. I will not have to go for the actual glucose tolerance test. This is a three hour test following a night of fasting. They would draw my blood four times in three hours. With how hard it is for me to deal without eating on a normal basis, I really didn't know how I would have survived that test. But, no worries.

My liver numbers were also tested. This is the big news. My numbers are in the normal range for the first time in at least four years!!! Truly, truly amazing. We had heard that pregnancy can tend to put the PSC symptoms in a sort of remission. But it hadn't happened yet, so I figured it wasn't going to happen for me. But lo and behold, my numbers are normal. I am so grateful. Now we just gotta bottle this pregnancy stuff and make it a cure.

We also have started to learn a little bit about cord blood banking. Initially I didn't want to spend the money to do it and figured we would just donate it. However, my doctor said that if we were to bank it, it could actually come in handy for my liver issues. That was new news and a very intriguing idea. So, we need to look into it more and better understand the potential.

The last couple weeks I have been having a really hard time getting going in the morning and just really sluggish and light-headed. Since the glucose test came back fine, I asked about my iron levels wondering if I was having anemia issues. But those were fine too. The doc said it's probably just the hot weather we've been having and I should drink more water, stay cool and out of the sun.

So all in all, very good news all around. The pregnancy is going great. Joshua is a wiggle worm. We have another ultra sound at the end of next week to check on my placenta and make sure it has moved up. Hopefully we'll get better photos than last time.

Here's my growing baby (and belly)...




On Sunday Jim and I went shopping for our crib. We were successful in our quest and Jim took to putting it together right away. Now with the crib, the wall color and the fabrics, you can really get a feel of the room.


My mom is making great progress on making the bedding and I can't wait to see it!!