are we there yet?

Well after 2 trips to the hospital to check our (my) progress, I am still 4cm dilated which is not quite through "early labor" which according to my pregnancy book is described as the cervix dilating to 4-5cm and contractions arriving every 15-20 mins (mine have been consistently 2-3 mins apart which is supposed to be "active labor"). The book also says "If your partner or coach isn't around, now is the time to contact him so he can be by your side". This totally makes me laugh. Basically (technically) I've been in early labor now for over 2 weeks! I feel bad for making Jay stay home from work on Fri (after we went to the hospital Thu night) but according to my book, he should have been home with me for the last 2 weeks solid! LOL. I know every woman and every labor and birth is different, so this doesn't really surprise me, but it is getting frustrating.

Anyways, we'll see what actually happens. I think that the next time I'll be ready to go to the hospital I'll want the baby's head to be crowning first so I actually KNOW there has been some progress...

Getting there....

We're just about there. Jenna had her weekly visit to the doc today, and she did a little coaxing to help things along a little, which has caused Jenna to start having contractions! She was already 4cm (10cm = baby's out), and still 90% effaced (I'm told 100% is baby-time) So we should be making a trip to the hospital pretty soon here!

Really exciting, and I'm getting really nervous. Next post should be post-birth!

Since all we ever do is copy the Heldts, we also just bought a laptop, so I may bring it along since they have wifi in the waiting room. Who knows, maybe they'll join us while we're there (but hopefully not, right Rachel?)!

I'm trying to decide if there's such a thing as bringing too much technology to the delivery room... I'm already bringing the digital camera, our phones which I just rigged up as mp3 players so Jenna can rock out while pushing, the video camera (I'm not sure what to video tape yet, but Rachel threatened Jenna with bodily harm if she didn't bring it), and now the laptop. Considered bringing the webcam too, to Skype and Messenger the family... but Jenna nixed that one... We'll have to wait 'till afterwards.

There's a big snowstorm brewing, expecting a foot of snow, so hopefully we'll be able to go before or after, not during the height of it. Luckily the hospital is only about 5 minutes away (maybe 10-20 driving at snow-storm speeds).

Blog 'ya soon!

The baby is on it's way...

So the big news is that the baby is definitely coming, and sooner than expected. Last week my dr found that I am 3cm dialated and 75% effaced, which basically means the early stages of labor have already started, and the baby could come any day! It's pretty crazy and makes this whole thing seem just that much more real. I am hoping the baby is just comfortable enough in the womb that it will wait until next week when my mom flies in from CA so she can be here for the birth. It's my parent's first grandbaby so that would be really cool if it can stay put a bit longer. I am really trying to take it easy now, because anything strenuous could throw me into labor. Of course the baby is full term and everything would be fine if it did come early...but I'm doing all I can to hold it off. Plus I've got Easter dinner planned with our friends, the Heldts, so Lord willing, no babies before then! (And my mom gets here the next day.)

In other news, we had a mild snow last week. It was our first snow in the new house, and it was pretty cool. The backyard has some pine trees and they looked really pretty with the snow. I got a couple pics of the snow, and then a pic of the next day when it was all gone. I guess that's the more normal pattern for snow here in the Denver area - snow one day and gone the next. I can hang with that!

The other thing that was really cool is that my mom threw me a "surprise baby shower in a box". She had a bunch of people from church back in Palmdale get together and they brought gifts and had a "wrapping party" and what looked like awesome food and everything. My dad took pics and put them together on a DVD with music and they sent everything to me. It was amazing and I was so touched...I was totally crying (and I am not normally a crier; I'm blaming it on the pregnancy hormones)! Anyways, it was really neat and I was very blessed by it. Thanks, Mom!

Picture time

Just wanted to do a brief post with some pics...

This is the mess Jay made in the garage while making a cool built-in TV stand

This is Jay working on the cool built-in TV stand

This is the finished product - a cool built-in TV stand (which I might add does match the other built in stuff perfectly - good job hubby!)

This is a horrible picture of a very pretty robin that was sitting in our tree in the back yard. I took the picture through the window (which has a screen) so it came out really bad. But I've seen a couple robins around and it's fun to watch them pull up worms from the yard.

This is another horrible picture (again through the window) of the bird feeder that I bought in my anxiousness to see more birds around the yard. So far it's only attracted sparrows, which aren't that terribly interesting. But the robin still hangs around and pulls up worms.

more work

We are starting to get a bit more settled in to the new house. We've sold a bunch of stuff on craigslist and I've got more on there now that is also generating lots of email and interest. Who knew the things you can sell on craigslist?! It's way better than ebay cuz it's free, and people come to pick up the stuff so no shipping! Anyways, besides that, Jay has been hard at work to get the house in order and keep me happy :)


One thing that I find totally ironic is the fact that although this house is about 40% larger than our old house, I'm sure the storage & cupboard space is at least 40% less! I've had pots and pans sitting all over the counters since we moved in, knowing we needed a pot rack (we even did have one at the old house, just a small wall mounted one). I finally ordered one last week and it came wednesday and Jay put it up that same night! What a guy...It's a fancy hanging one, and I found it online for much less than we would have paid at Target or LinensNThings or elsewhere. To the right is the final product, sorry for the slightly fuzzy pic. Apparently I didn't have the camera on the right setting or something, but i'm too lazy to try again. I'm really happy with the way the pots we have hang so nicely. There is one skillet (in the back that you can't even really see) that I bought while we lived in the condo, which doesn't hang nearly as nicely as the rest. It has to do with the shape of the handle and the shape of the hole in the handle...things I'm sure no one but me really cares about (well, probably me and my dad...that's where I get it from...)

So Jay is also working on building a new TV stand for the new TV we bought. The old one was just barely too big to fit into our neat built-in TV niche, so we sold that on craigslist and promply bought a new one at Costco. Funny how that works...move into a new house and need new things. How did we get so materialistic again so quickly?! Isn't this part of what we learned in our 8+ months of living like nomads? I will get a pic of Jay's handiwork and post that later. I should go down and get an "in progress" one and also a finished product one when he's done. It comes back to that lazy thing again...or can't I just blame it on being pregnant now?

Anyways, that's the update, folks. Things are coming along so hopefully you'll see more "finished" product pics in the near future.

Yippee - posting with DSL!!!

This is supposed to be way easier and better and faster now that we are all hooked up with DSL! We'll see how much faster it really is when it comes time to upload the pics.

So there really isn't much to say except that we are trying to get all settled into the new house. There are boxes everywhere and it's crazy, but I think we're getting there. There are painters here this week to paint the upstairs (after a few discussions about whether we would do it ourselves - read, Jay would do it himself - or hire someone, and when it came down to it, we realized there are just so many weekends before the baby is due and we just wouldn't have time to do it ourselves.) So that is one thing off our plate. Jay got the electric dog fence installed over the last couple days, and now we just have to get Ella used to it again. Jay is also working on spray painting some cabinet knobs that we got at Ikea (when in CA) for 12 cents each! They are just a little light for the kitchen so he decided to spray paint them. Still much cheaper than anyother knob you could buy!

My belly is getting increasingly bigger and I'm starting to wonder how I am supposed to keep growing for more than a month still! Anyways, on with the pictures because that's all anyone wants to see anyways...

wow, that was faster uploading... above is what will be the nursery...



these are the knobs Jay spraypainted - looks like something out of a science fiction movie...



these are the knobs that are currently on every single drawer and cabinet in the whole house - I'm sure they were expensive, just not our style...



My latest profile



Me and my wonderful mom who threw my baby shower in CA last minute. Love u mom!

Oh happy day

When we were back in CA we went to Rockharbor on Sunday and heard this new worship song, "Oh Happy Day" and while the song was appropriately about the happy day when Jesus took our sins away, it just keeps running through my head because the house in CA is finally sold and we are moving into a house here on Tuesday! Oh happy day! - is that blasphemy?

So the trip was stressful but good. The first few days back in the old house got me all emotional - but I will chalk that up to being pregnant (and the fact that it was the first house Jay and I bought together and we did really really like it). There were a lot of good memories in that house. But I know God has bigger and better things planned for us and there will be even more good memories in the new house - like the birth of our first baby.

Speaking of babies, while in CA my mom threw me a baby shower which most of my old friends were able to attend. It was so great to see everyone - even though I feel pretty connected through all the blogging, it is really nice to catch up in person, too! One great thing about the timing was that I was able to pack all the new baby loot onto the moving truck, and it's currently probably driving through the Rockies and should arrive at our new house on Tuesday! It will be really nice to have all our own stuff back again - it seems so materialistic, but I really miss our bed and good kitchen knives and cookware!

So one major stressor in our lives is over, just in time for the new stressor - the baby! We already have several projects ahead of us in the new house, including unpacking and changing out knobs and bathroom fixtures and assembling a ton of baby stuff! Jay has a pretty big list already of projects, and it seems to be growing. Is this that "nesting" thing that people talk about when the baby gets close to coming???

We are super excited though and very grateful to have a home to move into before the baby comes and we have to keep asking ourselves everyday if this is really real. I think once we are actually living and sleeping there it will feel pretty real and feel pretty good. Sorry no pics this time but next week we will have DSL and will post pics for everyone. Hopefully some good before and after pics of the things we will be doing to the house...