Meeting the newest Hays boy

We went to Longboat Key to Aunt Anne and Uncle John's house to see my cousin Debbie and her two boys who are down for a little spring vacation. Today we met Christmas Baby, Griffin Aaron Hays, who was as sweet as you could imagine. An adorable baby and such a content and alert little guy. Debbie and I got to talk 'baby' a bit, and she brought me a couple of maternity dresses.

Here is Alex, who Griffin didn't seem to want to let go of. Alex is always so good with kids. It makes him that much more irresistible to me as we get closer to having a baby of our own.

Our "Nest" is getting closer to baby ready

Here is a room by room breakdown of our renovations. We still have a few furniture pieces to get and all the decorating in the nursery, but that will get done eventually. Lori was requesting pictures asap, so the lighting is not the best in all of these. 5:00 is what I had to work with.

Living Room

We moved the end table to the opposite side of the couch, rearranged the wall shelving, moved the college diplomas, and moved the chair to face the TV. New flooring and baseboards, new curtains, new bookshelves, removed the large armoire and put a smaller TV stand in the room.

Dining "room" and kitchen

We bought a smaller dinette set to fit off the kitchen. We finally eat dinner at the table like adults... but we can still see the TV while we eat. We removed the tile in the kitchen and put down laminate instead and painted the kitchen walls a darker beige. Still small, but so much more enjoyable to be in.

Den

We moved the armoire from the living room into the den and are using it for our office storage. We bought a new, smaller computer desk, and bought new window blinds. We painted the walls a darker beige and put in new baseboards. We also bought a TV for the den, and Alex is currently sanding and staining the stand for it. We will also be getting a small couch or love seat, which will be my perfect place to cuddle with the baby. We still have to figure out a plan for the computer wires. I hate that.

Half bathroom downstairs

We got rid of the awful baby blue walls in here by painting the same beige. We bought a new mirror and new light fixture and added a few decorative pieces. So much better.

Stairs

We had the stairs rebuilt to get rid of the plank slats type stairs so the baby would not fall through them. Then we recarpeted the stairs and the upstairs with a berber. The under side of the stairs is lined with new drywall, and Maggie got a new dog bed for her favorite spot under the stairs.

The Nursery

We painted a blue and beige combo and Alex hung and painted the chair rail. We also put in new blinds on the window. We had new carpet put in here and painted the baseboards. For now an empty slate, but we are thinking we are going with the Fire Truck theme.

It may not be the stuff out of Better Homes and Gardens but we are enjoying our new spot, which has brought us more peaceful and relaxing evenings, and made the house cleaner and less dusty for baby boy's new lungs. And we are proud of the tight budget we worked with. Big thanks to mom, who helped us by gifting us the flooring, both laminate and carpet.

Can't wait until there are little feet in these

A parent from school gave me a big bag of baby clothes today for Baby Boy. There were some really cute things in there, but when I dug to the bottom and saw these little shoes my heart melted.

Maggie is patiently waiting for her little brother to arrive.

24 weeks

I guess I'm about to hit my 7th month!

Tomorrow I'll find out if I have gestational diabetes. Fingers crossed for a negative.

Morans together again

We went to Boca Raton last weekend for the first of Alex's dad's two birthdays. The way I understand it, in Peru you get your real birthday and the other birthday you make up. Go figure! This was the real one... we think.

Alex's brothers and sister all came home too and we had a surprise party for Neno, with some neighbors and extended family there too. The last time we were all together was for Mike and Rachel's wedding so we were about due. We got to meet George's new girlfriend Kelly, who surprisingly does exist and is a really nice girl.

It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend for me, just what I needed after a very stressful two weeks. On Sunday we went with Mike and Rachel to DelRay Beach and had a nice lunch on an open air patio facing the water. Then we just sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun and cool breeze. Alex and I played paddle ball a bit, rallying 188 times, which if not a personal record is a personal pregnancy record. It was a great afternoon, after which I slept like a rock.

Here is baby boy's first trip to the beach!

Feeling more cheery this week

I am back to normal health, have my appetite back, am sleeping well, and went for a walk with Maggie for the first time in over a week. I owe much of my improved attitude to the quality 10 minutes I spent with our boy today. I saw what looked like a recognizable human face coming from inside my womb for the first time. Here he is. Such a sweet mug.

This is the "cheery" trimester?

A few weeks ago it took 2 weeks to get over one of the nastiest colds I've ever had. Coupled with the fact that I couldn't take much for relief due to the pregnancy I was pretty miserable. Then I had a great week, was feeling good until...

I woke up on Sunday night at 2:00am with slight abdominal pain and nausea, and what felt like UTI symptoms. It took until 5:15 to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, only to wake up at 5:45 and head to work on Monday. My pain worsened so I left school at lunch time and went to the OBGYN who thought I had a bladder infection, but possible kidney stones, and prescribed an antibiotic. I went home to sleep the rest of the afternoon, but threw up twice, and then slept pretty well that night. Back to work on Tuesday but was unable to eat or keep anything down. Alex took good care of me and drove all over town to offer me a choice of 4 chicken noodle soups I asked for. I threw up 5 times that day and because of the vommit reflex I had abdominal pain and blown blood vessels in my eyes. Slept ok Tuesday night, went to school on Wednesday, scared the kids with my bloody eyes either because I looked scary or because the sweet ones are worried about me and the baby. Tutored after school on Wednesday and started having some pain in my lower back. By the time I got home a few hours later my back pain intensified to the point of almost unbearable. Worried about appendicitis or kidney stones, I called the OB on call and he told me to go the ER if I wasn't getting better in a few hours. Alex took me within a half hour and it's a good thing because the pain got far worse. They did an ultrasound on my kidneys, gave my IV antibiotics, anti-nausea meds, pain killers, a liter of fluids, and let me sleep a bit. After follow up today at the OB they are telling me they are pretty sure I was passing stones last night when that pain was the most intense. Feeling much better today (Thursday), have had 3 meals, each one getting progressively more substantial. I took Thursday and Friday off work to rest which is good because I need this to not drag out.

Now I'll just look like a bloody-eyed freak for a while, wearing sunglasses in buildings and even at night. I was just starting to enjoy everyone tell me how cute I was getting now in my 6th month! I guess since I never had a day of morning sickness, nausea, or food aversion in my first trimester I'm making up for it now so I can wear the badge of pregnancy.

Baby boy is still kicking, heard a heartbeat again today, and saw him on sonogram at the ER. Thanks for the prayers everyone, and a huge thank you to everyone who has taken care of me, run errands for me, brought me food, and squared things away with school and the kids.