30 Weeks (and a few days again) + Baby Showers

What a great weekend this past weekend was in celebrating and anticipating B2K's arrival in a few short weeks (10...give or take!). Two of my best friends, Katie and Sabrina with the help of another great friend, Erika, threw us our first baby shower Saturday, June 11th. The time and effort that they put into the shower is so much appreciated and I am grateful every day to have friends like them to put so much thought and love into a beautiful shower for our little girl!! Some great friends were able to make it and they helped us with some things that will be so helpful with Baby:

1. Becca & Meliah Jaschen - Mommy outfit, diaper cake, and lady bug boon pod for Baby's bath toys


2. Casey & Reagan Van Andel - Onesies & outfits


3. Brooke & Jody Rayl - A box of miscellaneous goodies : ) (dishwasher basket, shirts, outlet covers, hangers, snack cups, hairbows)


4. Jessica Cole & Jennifer Scott - Under the sea crib soother


5. Grandma Kern - Christening shoes, changing pad cover, bath towels and cutest pink piggy bank from Grandpa Kern


6. Grandma Lint - Melodious teddy bear for Baby's crib


7. Sabrina Cox - Drying bottle rack, bottle brush, toys and the cutest outfit with pink ruffle skirt!


8. Erika Nielsen - Baby's bath tub w/ a princess bath duck and foam bath letters


9. Katie Jermier - Baby's activity gym and bouncy chair

After the baby shower was over, Mom came home with me and between her, Brian and Becca they were able to put my anxiety at ease while they helped me get ALL the baby clothes organized, put away or stored away and put all the new stuff away too!! Brian put the baby stuff together while Mom and Becca helped me get organized and stuff put in it's place! It is such a relief to have it done and to know that I might be past the anxiety and melt down stage because I don't know where to put it all. I am sure a few things here and there will get moved before the time comes but the big stuff is done and they were a god-send in helping me get it all done. Jay got out easy thanks to Brian...until Wednesday!! Wednesday, June 15th is my second baby shower from my "NCMIC Family", which Sabrina has also been heading up (against my will but appreciated all the same!). I feel so fortunate to have so many friends and family that help us get going on getting prepared for B2K's big arrival and the gifts are incredible and I can't wait to see her in them or around them all!!!

Those are really the big updates since our last bi-weekly post! We have a busy week this week; one that will prove to be trying for this mom but also another milestone for me to surpass. Thursday is one year since we said good bye to Angel which we will be celebrating as a family. I find this obviously emotional dealing with it and dealing with how others deal with the "day"; but I have decided that I will deal with it my way, everyone else can deal with it (or not deal with it) their way and I will celebrate it as if Angel was here with me. I have no doubt that I will get past this as I have everything else, while not without some tears shed, a stronger person afterwards. We will then continue Friday with a bi-weekly doctor's appointment which cousin Ashleigh will get to attend with me. Jay has a dentist appointment but Ashleigh is ecstatic to get to go with me and hear the baby's heartbeat! We will then continue the day with Adventureland all day on Friday, Meliah's birthday party on Saturday and wind up the day with Dad on Father's Day (sadly without Jay since he is racing.....). Exhausts me just typing it all out but without a doubt emotional, exciting, and exhausting all at once!! Until next time.....32 weeks!! :-D

28 Weeks...plus a few days!

Time flies when you're having fun! Okay, maybe not all fun but it has certainly gone by fast and here I am again with another bi-weekly update and nearing the 29 week mark!! There really isn't a whole lot to update on outside the of the increasing activity of B2K and Jay's obsession with touching my belly like I am a troll doll! But it is great to watch him have so much fun with it. He loves the night time when she is kicking and I am laying against his back (as close as I can without my protrusion getting in the way) but he just likes feeling her not me : )We had a doctor's appointment this morning. First of all, the glucose syrup stuff that we have to drink is horrendous! But I got it down and we got to do an ultrasound where the tech took 3D pictures of B2K's face for us. She was as stubborn as the last time and would not move her arm from the right side of her face but she did show us a big stretch then a "thumbs up" to assure us everything was fine! Her heart rate was 143 bpm and she is sitting breech right now; of course not concerning to them this early and still plenty of time for her to get turned around on her own. There were a couple of tiny things that they mentioned that they will monitor with another u/s at 36 weeks but nothing they are the least bit concerned about right now and nothing that I can do to "correct" either of them. First, my amniotic fluid levels are a little bit higher than they like and called it a mild case of....polyhydramnios...(which of course when looking it up to find out the word could cause anyone to become panicked about it!). Secondly, quoting the doctor, "she's a little on the big side"...they are approximating her weight to be about 3 1/2 pounds already and measuring at about 30w1d according to the measurements. But the physician assistant insisted that neither of these things are anything that they are concerned with or worrisome and they will probably do another u/s at about 36 weeks to check things out again and we will go from there. Otherwise, nothing outside the pleasure of getting to see Miss Baby and another assurance that things are moving along well.

Life, in other terms, is as busy as ever. We have not been home without something to do on a weekend for several weeks now so trying to get things done in between everything else going on has become quite the challenge but we are getting there. I am not in stress out mode (yet). After beginning to put baby clothes away last week, I am will have to quietly agree with Jay that maybe I should stop buying for B2K for a little while but in the same breathe I realize that she will go through a lot of clothes between feedings and spit ups, so then I justify it for a little while! I think I am trying to spread out the nursery process so when it's done, it's done...so I don't have a bunch of time to debate about what to do with something and think about changing it up! Most people know that I am notorious for that! But things are slowly coming together. We have bought our travel system so we have our stroller and car seat with bases. My sweet friends, Katie and Sabrina, are throwing me my first baby shower in a week, June 11th. Planning this, in addition to their own busy lives, is incredibly thoughtful and I look forward to seeing everyone that can make it! Then the following week, June 15th, is a baby shower from my work. So more things for B2K to begin staking her claim to the Kern Household before she is even here : )

Back to life in other terms...we have 5 birthday parties to celebrate in the next few weeks. Our nephew, Alexander just turned 5 May 27th so we will be celebrating that this weekend. We get to celebrate our god-daughter's 1st birthday on her half birthday (after all, it's not fair for a sweet little girl to have to share her birthday with Christmas!) So we will get to celebrate her first birthday on June 18th. Then our other nephew, Brady, will turn 3 on June 27th...in between those two, our good friends Nick and Sabrina's daughter, Brylee, turns 2 on June 24th celebrating that Saturday. Finally, our last nephew will turn 6 on July 22nd and that will wrap up our summer birthday celebrations until B2K arrives and adds to them!! Outside of that, Jay has a race in Blue Earth, MN (on the same day as Mia's birthday party....no good!!!) that he will be attending. With the status of his work we weren't sure if that was going to be possible but things are starting to look up a little bit on that front so hopefully he will be back to work full time and be able to go to this race at least since the rest of the races for the year are very much in the air (July 30th, August 16th, September 3rd....ha!) And in between, keep treking on getting stuff done and ready to go!

28 weeks (plus 5 days) down...less than 12 to go!!