Time to get ready for Boo!

That title is a little misleading. Dave and I have spent a lot of time getting ready for Boo. Our nursery is done. We've taken a breastfeeding class. We're going to lots of doctor appointments. We've started stocking up on diapers and wipes.

However, I feel like I have a lot of "business-type" stuff to get ready that I haven't been able to tackle. You know -- the not-so-fun stuff like figuring out daycare and the pediatrician and getting pre-registered at the hospital. We also have more classes to take and I have a couple of books I want to read.

I am ready to tackle all of that stuff. My summer class is over! IT'S OVER! I'm done with having class two nights a week and homework on the weekends and feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I can finally breath and finish getting ready for our little dude.

J.B.

Dates

Isn't it funny how sometimes an anniversary or birthday or other important day arrives and you remember it, but sometimes a day just as important comes and goes and you just totally blank.

This August I've had a lot of those important dates coming and going without even noticing the significance of that day.

I forgot Cooper Joe's 3rd b-day. I forgot my friend Michelle's b-day. I forgot my 2-year anniversary at work. (Thankfully, I remembered Stevie's b-day and Diana's b-day!)

But there is another day that I did not forget.

Today. August 23.

Dave got up early and went fishing with his friend, Sean. I got up several hours later and decided to take a pregnancy test. I had taken one a couple of days before that had been negative, but I guess intuition told me to try again. And so did the fact that a monthly visitor hadn't arrived yet.

The test was positive. I was pregnant. After close to a year of trying.

Unable to wait until Dave came home, I called him. He told me to take another one. You know, just to be sure.

I did.

I remember feeling like I was on a cloud that day. I didn't know what to do with myself. Life was so beautiful. I was going to be a mommy. My life was forever changed by one test.

The truth is. I couldn't forget this day. Not when I still think about Chubs almost every day. Especially lately. There is something about being pregnant again during allergy season that reminds me of my first pregnancy. The pain isn't so raw anymore. In fact, being pregnant again has definitely brought a lot of healing. Although Chubs is still missed.

Even though that pregnancy didn't end the way we wanted it to, that doesn't take away the happiness and excitement Dave and I felt on this day one year ago. We were so excited to find out we were going to be parents. And today, one year later, we're ecstatic to be parents. That day is coming so soon. And while Chubs won't be the little boy that's in are arms, Chubs will still be in our hearts.

I love you, Chubs.

J.B.

Allergy season.

For most people, the end of summer means state fairs, back-to-school and cooler weather.

For Otis and myself, it means allergy season.

And this week, allergy season has arrived in full force.

Poor Otis. He's given himself scabs on his eyebrows, ears and leg pits (I guess that's what you call where his front legs meet his torso.) He spends half the night scratching instead of sleeping. We're trying to help ease his discomfort as much as we can. We give him Benadryl and we've been giving him extra baths with anti-itch shampoo. This week I ordered him another shampoo and a leave-in conditioner to try that one of my co-workers recommended. He just looks sad and miserable. For those of you that know Otis, you know he is miserable when he doesn't even want to cuddle. That's right. He doesn't want to cuddle. He just lays on the cool tile floor. Thankfully, our efforts seem to provide him some relief and hopefully our new shampoo will arrive soon and will provide him with even more relief.

And yes, I'm dealing with allergies too. I knew this was going to happen. My third trimester and my allergy season were going to coincide. And here we are. For the first time this whole pregancy, I've had to break down and take medicine (doctor-approved, of course). But it just doesn't provide the same relief as my prescription allergy meds. Constant itchy eyes and a runny nose. The extra dander floating around the house from Otis' scratching doesn't help much either. But there isn't much I can do, but deal with it, keep tissues handy and pray for an early frost.

All right. Enough complaining. Happy Friday!

J.B.

28 weeks. 7 months. 3rd trimester!

Ok. I've now made it to 29 weeks, but I have to back up a little bit and give you a 28 week update, since I had an doctor's appt and had a photo taken (a really good one too!...if I can say so myself.)

My 28th week started with a blast. I went to the wedding of my friend, Carrie, along with my friends from high school. In true high school fashion, we went without our significant others (since we never had boyfriends...haha). We got together before the weddind to get our make up ready and hair done and all dressed up and ready to go. The wedding was a ton of fun. We laughed. We danced. We ate cake. We danced some more. Boo is already a hit with the ladies on the dance floor. I got home around 1:30 a.m. in the morning. I don't even remember the last time I stayed out that late.

The next day was not so much fun. I was exhausted. My internal alarm clock forced me up by 8:00 a.m. I'm not sure why, but I can never sleep in when Dave and I have a day off together. I guess I'm always too excited for the day to begin. So we made fried egg sandwiches and bacon. Yum. But by 10:30 a.m., I was sleepy and needed a nap. I slept for 3 1/2 hours! I've been known to take 3 hour naps, but not 3 1/2! It was a hot, hot day. Dave and I ran some errands, which mostly meant go buy things for Boo, I guess. Some books is what we intended to go find, but we were diverted from our mission when we drove past guys standing on a street corner holding signs for a furniture going out of business sale. We found a great rocker/recliner for Boo's room. It's so comfy and I can't wait to rock him to sleep in it. After that diversion, we got back on track and made our way to the book store. We found a cute children's book about a dog with no tail. Just like our pups! The dog looks just like Cooper -- even has blue eyes -- except in the story, the dog's name is Henry. We also found a bored book that has the same name as our baby boy.

Yes, that is right my friends, Boo has a name.

After the book store, we stopped at the grocery store. But the heat had definitely started gettting to me. We had to make it a quick trip to that store, as I was starting to get light headed and dizzy. We made it home. I made my way back to the couch and pretty much stayed there the rest of the day.

We also took our first daycare center tour. It was really nice, but it's probably out of our price range some. We have some leads on some other places too, so I'm sure we'll be able to find Boo a great daycare that fits our budget too.

Then I had a doctor's appointment. Boo is doing great. His heartrate was 150 bpm. He appears to be growing right on track. The not-so-good stuff had to do with me. I failed my 1-hour gestational diabetes test. And my blood platelets have dropped more....enough that my doctor called the next day to have me come back in again and get retested. So Friday, I went back to the doctor for more bloodwork. I passed the 3-hour gestational diabetes test! Hooray! And I got the platelets retested, but since they're just monitoring them, I probably won't get the results until my next doctor's appointment. Which is only a week away now.

It's crazy how fast time is going. I'm already in the third trimester. Boo is going to be here in 2 1/2 months. I'm excited to meet this little guy who keeps kicking me. I'm excited to see if he'll get my brown eyes or his daddy's blue eyes. We are getting close to being ready for him. We even got our car seat yesterday as a present from my aunt and uncle. So we can officially bring our little guy home from the hospital with us.

So now what I'm sure you've all been waiting for....the picture....although it's the same picture that was on Facebook, so it's probably not even new to most of you. Sorry for the tease!

J.B.

Boo's nursey

We're done with Boo's nursery! Dave did so much work putting it all together for me -- from painting to assembling the crib and hanging everything. From the beginning, I wanted a "retro" theme, so my mom and I spent time going to antique stores to see what we could find. Then Dave and I went to Ikea and fell in love with some star lights. So on one wall we had baseball, another wall had circus and another wall had stars. None of it really went together, but it wasn't too overwhelming one theme over another. I wanted one more thing for the wall, but didn't want to throw off the balance. But I found the perfect canvas at Target last weekend. It was an alphabet with a different objects for each letter of the alphabet -- it has stars, a baseball glove and animals -- representing all of the room decorations and more. I'm so happy with how it turned out. I can't wait until Boo gets to see it! Can you tell what stuff my mom and I found at the antique stores? Hint: the pups are not antiques. Here are some pics...

J.B.