Nursery pictures

The nursery is almost complete! I still need to get a curtain, but I'll probably end up making it since for some reason I can't find a solid green valence anywhere. I also want a small rug, again preferably solid green, but I've had a hard time finding one. The only other thing missing is a painting that I'm having framed and I just don't have it yet.

This is where the painting will go.

Here's a picture of the painting - it's what inspired the whole animals of the world theme.

Missing cat

Our cat Lincoln has been missing since Thursday night. Our cats are indoor/outdoor, but they normally come in a couple of times a day. Lincoln has run off for a couple of days at a time before, but it's been at least a year or two since she's been gone for this long. We're starting to get worried, and we're going to start calling vets/shelters and hanging posters in our neighborhood. I was looking for a good picture of Lincoln to put on the poster, and I just have so many cute ones of her from over the years. I thought they were worth sharing!

This is Lincoln and Penny when we got them in August 2002. They were the runts of their litter and their mother abandoned them. (Lincoln is the lighter one.)

They love each other very much, although they don't do this anymore now that they're older.

They were so tiny when we got them that we had to feed them with bottles.

Lincoln can be mischievous.

She loves finding new places.

Sometimes we're not sure how she fits into them.

Penny is good at finding new spots, too.

They were never sure what to think about snow.

But they do enjoy Christmas.

Springtime is their favorite though.

After all, that's when the birds are out.

Random pregnancy updates

Today I signed up for childbirth classes, an infant/toddler CPR class, and a newborn care class. I'm not sure if the newborn care class is necessary - it's stuff like how to give the baby a bath - but I figured I might learn something new and useful.

My feet are getting really swollen! I'm not sure why this is happening, but I think my walk this morning only made it much worse. So, I'm going to keep them elevated as much as possible.

I got Eleanor's baby book the other day and it's been a lot of fun filling that out! I am looking forward to putting some pictures of her in it!

Good test results

So today I got several good test results.

First of all, I found out that I passed my gestational diabetes screening. I don't know why, but I was nervous about that. I passed with no problems though!

This afternoon I had my first non-stress test. I'll have these once a week until 32 weeks, and then twice a week! They're going to get really tired of seeing me around that office! Basically they monitor the baby's heart rate while I monitor her movement. Every time I felt her move I had to press a little button. The machine prints out a chart with her heart rate and you could see a spike every time I had pressed the button. That was pretty cool.

Strollers

I spent a LONG time researching strollers and I finally made a decision this week. I realize most of my readers probably won't care too much, but if you're a mom or mom-to-be, I just thought I'd share my findings.

For a long time, I wanted to get the Maclaren Techno XLR. It's the ultimate umbrella stroller. It's relatively lightweight, folds easily to fit in the trunk of my small car, has an extendable footrest, can fully recline, is supposedly great for tall parents, has a car seat adapter bar, and is appropriate from birth to 65 lbs. ALL of the reviews I read on it were excellent. I read great things about its sun visor (which unzips and comes way farther down than what's in the picture) and rain shield and decided that this must be the way to go since we live in Florida. BUT... I plan to walk with Eleanor every day, and I didn't really want to have to put the stroller in and out of my car every time I need to take it somewhere. Plus, it's kind of pricey. You can find them for much cheaper on ebay - brand new - than you can anywhere else, but still, it would be around $280.


So, I came up with plan B. Why get one stroller for $280 when you can get two for $255? Here is what we finally got.

For walks in the neighborhood, I got the Baby Trend Phantom Jogging Stroller. I knew I liked the feel of jogging strollers, and this one had excellent reviews. Plus, it was pretty inexpensive compared to a lot of other stuff out there. It has a child tray and a parent tray that's perfect for keys, a bottle of water, and a cell phone. It supposedly takes most car seats (I just want that for the first couple of months when she'll be kind of small for the regular seat), but the car seat I've ordered is a Graco so I'm not sure if it will work. I'll find out soon. The sun shade isn't quite as big as I'd like, but it's not bad and you can pull the whole thing down if the sun is coming right in on the baby's face. It has a viewing window in the canopy which is another plus. I bought it at Target yesterday (yay for gift cards!) and put it together and I'm very happy with it. I wouldn't want to try to put it in my car's trunk very often, but it's perfect for walks.


My stroller to keep in the car is a Maclaren Quest. It's basically a step down from the original stroller I wanted. It has 4 reclining positions but doesn't fully recline and it doesn't take a car seat. Still, I think Maclaren is a great brand and, once again, the reviews were excellent. (I really base my shopping on reviews for things I know nothing about!) I got it on ebay brand new, and I even got it with two different sets of fabrics. One is gray and sky blue, and the other is pink - VERY pink. I think I prefer the gray/blue, but it's good to have choices. It was $140 total, including shipping.

Excitement

The last couple of days have been really busy with everything baby, and I'm getting excited! On Monday I had the level 2 ultrasound that I already posted about, and on Tuesday afternoon I had a shower at the school where I work. It was really nice and I got lots of great gifts from my co-workers. Eleanor is going to be one well dressed baby! She got clothes, bibs, pacifiers, blankets, etc. She also got lots of Target gift cards! Yesterday I went to Target and bought her first stroller with all those gift cards. We're actually getting two strollers - one for walks in the neighborhood and one to keep in the car for outings. This one was the jogging stroller for walks.

Yesterday morning I had to get up at 5:00 to go get my 1 hour glucose test and I still managed to get to work on time. Then I had to leave school early - for the second time in 3 days - to go to my doctor for my monthly appointment. She did yet another ultrasound (we're so spoiled!) and we basically just watched Eleanor moving for about 10 minutes. She had her little hands up by her face and her feet kept moving like she was dancing. Very cute. I go back to the doctor again on Tuesday for my first non-stress test. From this point on, I'll be seeing the doctor once a week! I think I have finally convinced Hunter that he doesn't need to come with me for these appointments. He has been with me to EVERY single appointment up until now - which I am so thankful for - but he really doesn't need to sit there while they monitor Eleanor's heartbeat for 20 minutes.

On my way home from the doctor I bought the stroller, and last night I put it together. It's sitting in the living room along with all of the baby shower gifts that I still haven't put away. We are getting so excited - I can't believe she'll be here in just over 9 weeks!

New ultrasound pictures

I had another ultrasound today and Eleanor is doing just fine. She weighs 2 lb, 15 oz and is in the 65th percentile. The doctor said she's projected to weigh around 7 lb, 12 oz (or something like that) at full term, and around 7 lb at 37 weeks, which is when I'm delivering. Considering that Hunter weighed almost 10 lbs, I'm fine with that!

The space shuttle launched just as we were doing the ultrasound and the whole building was rumbling. Eleanor didn't seem very impressed though - she didn't really respond to it. We'll have to take her to see a shuttle launch in person after she's born!

Here are a few cute profile shots. She's holding her hand up by her face.

27 weeks

I made it to the third trimester!

Compare this to my 18 week picture.
Same shirt, same location - much bigger baby!