Shower #2

Our second shower was in my hometown, Ponca City, OK. It was a girly shower and so much fun! My best friend Melissa did an incredible job with the decorations and found so much pirate stuff I never knew existed. Once again, Griff and I were so humbled by the generosity and thoughtfulness of all our friends and family - we got so much amazing stuff for the baby. We're really close to having everything we need for the baby... now we just need the actual baby to be here! Here are the pics!

Me with the lovely hostesses

The amazing table, food and decorations

Me and my sister-in-law, Leila

Look at all that loot! Incredible!

Me and my mom with my grandma, aunts and cousin

My brother and Griff stopped by at the end of the shower... I think they felt a little out of place! And the little taxi car in this pic was a special gift from my mom. Apparently after Griff and I got married, unbeknownst to us, my dad was going to auctions and garage sales looking for antique toys for his future grandkids. He found this antique car years ago and so my mom gave it to us at the shower. By far the best gift we've gotten!
This is when my mom was giving us the car... and I was bawling like crazy!

Me and my BF, Melissa!

The family

Griff, me, my brother Kyle and sister-in-law Leila

Me, mom, and Leila

Griff, me and mom - and an interesting fact... the dress I'm wearing was actually my mom's dress when she was pregnant with my brother! So glad she saved it!

Shower #1

Our first shower was a couples/co-ed shower thrown by some of our best friends. We really didn't want anything too baby-ish, just a fun time to hang out and celebrate our baby boy... and it was a blast! Our friends did an amazing job and everything was perfect. It was so great to have so many of our friends and family together. We got some amazing gift and were totally humbled by how generous everyone was. Here are the pics!

The amazing table with great food and super cute pirate decorations

We played a baby game where you had to guess what the baby food was by taste test... I did not do so well and am trying to not feel like bad mom already!

Let the gift opening begin!

You can't see it very well, but this is a handmade pirate book from one of the hostesses, Jenni. It was so incredibly adorable that I told her she should start her own business! Jenni blogged about making the book HERE.

The cutest baby pirate chucks ever! Thanks Brandon and Kelsey!

The Stroope Family

Me with the amazing hostesses, Jenni, Beth and Holly!

Me, Mom and Nana

Griff and me with our surprise guest, my Uncle Kevin! At the shower we found out he is working in Dallas for the next 6 months (he lives in Denver) and decided to stay the weekend and surprise us at our shower!

Me, Griff and the Grandma-to-be!

Week 33

At the risk of sounding like a major complainer... I am big, round, and uncomfortable! I really have enjoyed being pregnant and am so thankful it's been somewhat easy. I'm just at the point now where I am uncomfortable all of the time - there is not a position - standing, sitting, lying down - where I am not uncomfortable. BUT, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We have a tentative induction date scheduled for July 31, which is 10 days before my actual due date. We are being induced early because of my diabetes, which can bring about various complications in the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. The dr. would rather induce early than take a chance of something happening to the baby in the last few weeks. At first I was a bit disappointed that the baby wouldn't get to come on his own, but in light of my constant uncomfortableness, July 31 can't come soon enough! There is still the chance that the baby will be here sooner than July 31, if the dr. feels like the baby isn't doing well and would be better to take him early. We are praying that he can stay inside and cook as long as possible, but in the end we trust that the dr. will do what's best for our boy.

We've had a super busy last few weeks and are so ready for some down time. We've had 3 showers in a row, child birthing classes, breast feeding classes, and Griff has his daddy boot camp class. With everything going on we haven't even had a chance to go through all of the great stuff we got at our showers and start to organize the nursery. Hopefully we'll get the chance in the next few weeks and I'll for sure post pictures of the nursery progress.

I wanted to get the weekly update out on time, but I haven't forgotten about shower pictures - I am working on that today and will have them up tomorrow! For now, here are this weeks pics:

We are a pineapple this week! Last week Baby was almost 5 pounds, so I would imagine he is about 5 1/2 right now. He is also over 17 inches long now!
Also - we sold my car this week :( I was so sad to see it go - I loved my little car, but there's no way I was going to try and get a car seat in and out of a 2-door car. A friend of a friend ended up buying it so at least it went to a good home! Here's my last pic with my sporty little car!

Week 32

How far along? 32 weeks - 8 Months!
Total weight gain: 21 pounds
Stretch marks? Still no!
Sleep: eh... I've pretty much given in to the fact that sleep will not be good for quite some time, so I'm just trying to manage my tiredness at this point.
Best moment recently: Baby showers and starting to put the finishing touches on the nursery!
Movement: Still a ton. He favors the right side of my belly so I sometimes look a little lopsided. For example, at our ultrasound yesterday he had his head, arms, and one leg in the lower right side of my belly and his butt and other leg in the upper right side. His back and part of his abdomen were the only things on my left side. You'd think he would realize he could stretch out a little more than that!
Food cravings: As I told Griffin today - My milk craving is out of control. I am now going through a gallon in 4 days.
Belly Button in or out? It's in... kind of... there is not really a belly button hole any more and the sides are starting to pop out where it's visible through my clothes.
What I miss: Not feeling like I waddle everywhere I go. I just feel so much heavier now and it makes it harder and harder to get around. Griffin says I don't waddle, but I think he's just being a nice husband to a sometimes emotional and irrational pregnant lady!
Worst part of pregnancy currently: For my own sanity I don't think I'll answer this questions this time. You would be reading my answer for the next day...
What I am looking forward to: The baby being here already! I am getting really anxious and excited!
Milestones: We finished our childbirth classes at the hospital, so according to Medical City we are ready to raise and take care of another human being. :) Thank goodness for grandparents!

* And I promise I'll get some shower pictures posted this week - there are a tons pictures between the two showers and I'm just trying to sort through them to get the best ones.

Here are this weeks pics:

That's our dog, Coltrane, on the bed. He really wanted to be in the picture this week!

And the vegetable of the week is...
A large jicama! Our baby is actually bigger than this by a pound. At our ultra sound yesterday he weighed 4 pounds, 14 oz. We also found out that he currently has a very large head -and by very large I mean his head is measuring 4 weeks ahead. Can you say OUCH?!? Let's just hope he grows into that big melon in the next 6 weeks!

Week 31

Top Down

Ugh... I am definitely PREGNANT. Not a lot of updates this week - just feeling very, very pregnant and everything that comes along with that. My belly continues to grow, and while that is a really good thing, it brings with it a lot more uncomfortable side effects. I just keep telling myself that I've got less than 8 weeks left and I can totally do it.

We had an amazing baby shower this weekend - we had such a good time seeing all of our friends and family and it was great to be able to celebrate baby Stroope! We're headed to Ponca this weekend for another shower so I'll post pics next week from both showers and of the progress we've made on the nursery. It's all starting to come together now!

Oh, and this week is 4 navel oranges. Why they couldn't come up with a single fruit or vegetable I'm not sure, but they did 4 oranges for the weight, which should be about 3 1/2 pounds... but as we all know our boy has already passed that mark and is probably closer to 4 1/2 or 5 pounds at this point!

Week 30

How far along? 30 weeks
Total weight gain: 17 pounds
Stretch marks? No!!!
Sleep: not a good subject right now... :(
Best moment recently: Getting to see our boy in the ultrasound so often now. Yesterday we got a great shot of his face and we could see his little mouth opening and closing, like he was practicing the sucking motion with his lips. Soooo fun to get to peek in on him and see what he's up to in there!
Movement: Lots! And he's started getting the hiccups, mostly in the morning. It's such a funny feeling because it's like really quick little spasms, lasts for about a minute or two, then goes away.
Food cravings: fruit! i can't get enough of it right now... especially cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries and oranges. Fruit has been the one consistent food I've been able to eat throughout my whole pregnancy but lately I could easily eat a whole cantaloupe in one sitting!
Belly Button in or out? Still in and still really shallow
What I miss: Being able to put on socks and tie my shoes without a lot of effort and a lot of grunting. Same goes for sitting down and getting up - I usually require assistance to get off the couch and my sweet husband is always there to give me a hand :)
Worst part of pregnancy currently: Lower back pain! Because I'm getting heavier out front it's putting a lot of strain on my lower back and my sciatic nerve. I've been on a heating pad for most of this last week and once again my sweet hubby has been a great masseuse!
What I am looking forward to: Our first baby shower this weekend!!
Milestones: Started a new phase in monitoring the baby - had our first biophysical profile yesterday. We had an ultrasound and then external fetal monitoring. Everything went really well and baby passed all tests with flying colors. I'll go back every two weeks and have these same tests done, up until about 36 weeks when I'll start going weekly. I also found out that I am slightly anemic so I've started taking extra iron supplements (in addition to what's already in my prenatal vitamin) and been told to eat iron rich foods. Hopefully that will help with my energy level!

Weekly Belly Pics:

Week 30 - Cabbage! Baby is now somewhere around 16 - 16/12 inches long and should weigh about 3 pounds, however our son is nearing the 4 pound mark at this point.