I'm an Auntie again!!!

My nephew was born today at 4:32PM. Three weeks and 1 day early. He's just as precious as can be!

Here are the stats...

Name: Timothy John B____ III, nickname is Tyce

Weight: 5 lbs, 7 oz

Length: 19 inches

He is doing great. The only slight problem he has is a cleft pallette which may prevent him from being able to nurse normally. But, that's nothing to worry about. Since he was a little bit premature everyone is relieved that his lungs are functioning really well.

Lindsey is a trooper and did a wonderful job delivering her son. I think she and Tim are relieved that they don't have to monitor her blood pressure, baby's heartrate, baby's movement, etc. right now and they can just enjoy being with their baby boy.
OK...now for the important part...the pictures!

This is Tyce sleeping in his warmer just about an hour and a half after he was born. He kept jerking himself awake so we were glad when he was able to be taken out of the warmer and swaddled in blankets.

The new family! Aren't they so cute?

This is Tyce's first picture with his cousin. :)

A very proud Auntie Brooke! Isn't he such a tiny little peanut?

Doing well!

This is just a quick update to let you know I'm feeling great and everything is going well. I went to the doctor today and after reviewing the ultrasound results from last Friday she said she gives the baby an A+!

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(Please keep my sister in your thoughts and prayers. She is struggling with high blood pressure, low platelets, and low amniotic fluid.)

Ultrasound pictures from today (36weeks 1day)

Because of the gestational diabetes, the doctor ordered an ultrasound to check on the baby's growth. It was so good to see him again although I was sad Rod couldn't be there.

The u/s technician said that I have a good amount of amniotic fluid. I was glad to hear that because my poor sister who is on bedrest due to high blood pressure also has low amniotic fluid. The "normal" level of amniotic fluid allowed us to actually get a few good pictures of Baby Kerbs!

At this point he is measuring about 6lbs 9oz but they said the estimate could be off by as much as one pound in either direction. If he continues growing at this pace and is delivered on his due date, it is estimated that he would weigh approximately 8lbs 9oz.

He has really long legs which makes sense because both Rod and I have long legs. Baby Kerbs was moving all over the place and doing everything he is supposed to do! It was fun watching his little heart beat away and I also got to see him practicing his breathing.

Here are a few pictures for you...

A profile shot.


The u/s technician pointed out that he has lots of hair. Let's see...long legs and tons of hair. Yep, he's definitely Rod's son! :)

A foot. I also got to see both of his little hands waving at me.

Proof that he is still a boy. Although, she labeled the parts ("S" for scrotum and "P" for penis), I still can't really tell what I'm looking at.

Thanks for looking!!!

I need an ice cream intervention!

For the past several weeks I have gotten the pleasure of ending my day with a bowl of ice cream. Unfortunately, it has turned into an addiction. I almost ran out of my Choco Mint Chip the other night and that sent me into quite a panic. I made a special trip to the grocery store (which I never do) just to get my fix. I have eaten my way through a gallon of this ice cream a week for at least the past 3 weeks.

Although I know it is horrible of me to eat so much ice cream, I still allow myself to do it because it is the only "real" sugary food I'm allowed to eat. It doesn't make my blood glucose numbers go up so I plan to continue allowing myself this treat every night until the baby comes. Maybe we can schedule an intervention next month.

It Is Finished Sayeth Me

The nursery is finally finished! The only thing left to do is buy a glider but I don't want to keep you waiting on the pictures any longer.

This is the crib all set up with the adorable crib sheet and bumper. Thanks goes to my aunt Karen for giving us the crib!

The room is really nice and bright with this big window and another smaller window. I think the curtains look cute.

In this picture you can barely see the dust ruffle. It's unfortunate because it matches the curtains and really ties the room together. Once the baby is bigger we will lower the mattress. Then the dust ruffle will be more visible.

I love the hanging rack I bought for the closet. It is going to work as a dresser with all his onesies, blankets, towels, etc. stacked in there. Right now it is still empty because the clothes are all in a pile waiting to be washed.

The diaper changing table was also given to us by my aunt Karen. I really like all the storage room it has in it. I bought those white baskets on clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond for $2 each. They work really well for holding little things like shampoo/soap, pacifiers, etc.

My mom gave us this turtle night light. The flash from my camera washed it out a little but the colors are perfect and I think it is so cute!

This one gives a little perspective of how the room is set up. When you first walk through the door the big window is in front of you. On the left is the changing table and closet. To the right is the crib.

I included this one of the smaller window to show the beautiful crown moulding that my dad installed.

This one shows the hardwood floor, trim, and carpeting.

Thanks for looking!!!

Happy Valentines Day

Dearest Mom,

Its dark in here.

I hope to get out soon.

Thank you for keeping me safe and warm.

Can I be your momma's boy this valentines?

Love,
(name to be announced)

P.S.
I wish you would announce my name because this paranthesis thing is kinda off putting to the other newborns. They make fun of me and call me Bracket.

Love you anyways, Me

Baby shower pictures

As promised! Here are some pictures from the baby shower on Sunday.

The place settings were gorgeous...real silver and china, a beautiful cloth napkin, and seed packets in the shape of a onesie.

The centerpieces made the whole room look cheery. The flowers were planted in mason jars with some pebbles at the bottom and moss around the top. Rae made blue gel candles in little baby food jars. They were realy cute.

Amy put juice in these glasses. They looked so neat with their little tags.

Amy and Tony happily pouring drinks.

Amy spent so much time working on this cake. I think it turned out great! She said it was supposed to feed 40, but I think it could have fed at least 75. I couldn't have any, but she gave me a piece to put in the freezer to eat after the baby is born. I'll let you know how good it is when I have a chance to taste it.

Rae came up with some fun games that everyone seemed to enjoy. Even Rod and Tim got into the games!

This is the ridiculously huge pile of presents we got to open! In order to not completely bore our guests, we opened as fast as we could. Unfortunately, that meant that we couldn't look through each and every gift as carefully as we would have liked. Once I got home, I sat down and looked through everything...we got some awesome stuff!

Apparently Rod was really surprised to get some diapers...not sure what this face was about.

This is a picture of me opening presents. Hmm. I don't know what else to say about it.

The 4 of us all got to sit together and take turns opening presents. It was nice not to be the only one in the spotlight!
Since I was in the middle of the action most of the time during the shower, I didn't get too many pictures. But, hopefully this is enough to give you a good glimpse into how perfect it was. We can never thank Amy and Rae enough! My Mom, Rose, Brian, and Tony deserve a lot of credit, too. Thanks, everyone!!!

What a lucky little guy!

Our baby shower was yesterday afternoon and all I can say is WOW! Rae and Amy did a fantastic job hosting the shower. Every little detail was absolutely perfect.

The cake was delicious, the games were fun, everything flowed well, the food was great (and they even had stuff I could eat on my special diet)! I can't wait to get the pictures uploaded so I can show you how beautiful the room looked.

...and then there were the presents. I think we are blessed with the most generous friends and family ever. I spent a couple of hours last evening trying to put everything away and I still haven't finished. It is unbelievable. The nursery was almost completely empty yesterday morning and now the only thing that's missing is the baby!

Thank you so much to Amy and Rae and everyone who was able to come celebrate with us. :)

Not all maternity pants are created equal

So, I bought a pair of wool pants from Burlington Coat Factory back in September. I knew I couldn't wear them until the weather got colder, but they were on clearance for $8 and at the time they fit great. Thus, I bought them.

It took me a while to finally find a shirt that matched them, so today I was able to wear them for the first time. It is now 10:36AM and I have pulled them up approximately 9,426 times already today. Of course I have 4 meetings today so I'm constantly in and out of the car which doesn't help. From 9-10 I was observing a 2 year-old classroom at Headstart so I was up and down off the floor, playing with them in the gym, etc. The pants were not cooperating.

At this point, I'm going to say it's been a good day if I make it to 6PM without losing them all together!

Nothing new

I haven't posted in a while. I guess that's because there hasn't been much going on. Here is a quick synopsis of the most interesting baby-related news in our world right now.

1) My dad came and finished the crown moulding yesterday. It looks great and I can't wait to get the room put back together so I can take some pictures!

2) Yesterday I had a blood glucose reading of 154. It is supposed to be less than 120 and the highest it has ever been before is 139. I couldn't figure out why it was so high. Finally last night it came to me...the diet Coke I had at dinner tasted funny and I now believe it was probably not diet. The size Coke I had contains about 70g of carbs. My limit for the whole meal was supposed to be 60. Oops! I will have to be more careful to be SURE it is diet next time.

3) I have never had a skin tag in my life. Now my skin looks like a mushroom farm. It's annoying, gross, and painful. I read that pregnancy hormones can cause skin tags and that they typically go away after delivery...let's hope!

4) A lady I know had her baby at 33 weeks gestation over the weekend. Thankfully her baby boy is doing well. But, it scared me a little bit to think how close delivery is. Rod is going to be gone during my 36th week. I hope our baby boy decides to hang on at least until Rod returns!

Sorry I don't have anything more interesting to report. :)