Some of our favorites...

We met with Tessie-Sampson Weaver (Photography by Tessie) on November 7, 2009 to have our Maternity/Belly Photo Shoot. She recently finished editing all 147 pictures....here are some of our favorites.....

1st Baby Shower...

I was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday, November 18th by a work baby shower. The surprise was even greater when I saw that my co-workers had invited Andy to see the surprised look on my face and participate in the fun event! I am fortunate to work with such caring and generous people. Andy and I were blessed with some wonderful gifts at the shower getting us even more excited about the arrival of our little peanut!

Handy Andy!

Andy has become quite the handyman. He is now finished all of his building projects and I wanted to give him praise where it's due. Check out the pictures of the end tables he built (3 of them to match the coffee table and leaning ladder shelf) and the book shelf for the nursery.

Babymoon...

Andy and I decided we'd take a little "Babymoon"
before the arrival of our little peanut. We spent the weekend in Inner Harbor as a means of celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary and also to kick back and relax before the hustle and bustle of having a new born hits us in 5 weeks. It was a great little getaway!

Andy is trying to capture some photos of the growing belly as I'm getting ready! He says it's somewhere between a volleyball and a basketball. All I know is it's getting heavy and pressing on my bladder!

Terrific Tuesday, 11/10/09

We had a great day on Tuesday, November 10th. Andy and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary and got news from the doctor that Baby Osika gained another 9 oz. He/she now weighs in at 3lbs 1 oz. On Monday, 11/16/09, at 32 weeks we will start weekly non-stress tests (NST's) so they can measure the variability of the baby's heart beat. The test will be anywhere from 20-40 minutes in which I get hooked up to both a heart rate monitor and a monitor that measures contractions. I'm curious to see how the baby responds!

31 weeks, 11/10/09

30 weeks, 5 days, 11/7/09

This past week has been a whirl wind. We had our weekly Maternal Fetal appointment on Tuesday morning, our breastfeeding class Tuesday evening, our 2nd child birth class on Wednesday, and our maternity/belly photo shoot this afternoon with Tessie-Sampson Weaver (check out her web page at http://www.photographybytessie.com/).

We found both our breastfeeding and child birth class very informational and are hoping to ease some of the anxiety that comes with labor & delivery and caring for an infant. Andy is determined to find a way to get me to relax during labor & delivery. I think he knows it's going to be a challenge. "Relax" isn't in my vocabulary. But, we did start practicing some relaxation techniques at the conclusion of our class on Wednesday. At our next class we'll continue to learn more relaxing techniques and watch two birthing videos.

Our appointment with Maternal Fetal went well. They performed the bi-weekly biophysical profile and Baby Osika passed the tests. We are looking forward to our appointment on Tuesday, November 10th, to see how much weight the baby has gained since October 27th. Andy is guessing 7 oz. He was right on last time. Perhaps the baby will give us a nice 2 year wedding anniversary present at our appointment by gaining lots of weight??

Lastly, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to get our belly/maternity pictures taken. The gorgeous weather allowed us to utilize the outdoors to get lots of pictures! Tessie hopes to have the pictures done in 1-2 weeks. I will be sure to post them on the blog once they are available.

Stay tuned as we keep you informed over the next 6 weeks..........

The Nursery is PERFECT...

Andy started the nursery about two weeks ago, behind closed doors. Today was the day he made the big reveal....and.....I LOVE IT! It's absolutely perfect! Andy has now decided to make a book shelf to add to the nursery. We registered for bedding to match the decor and we are getting a glider from my cousin. After that, we just need our little peanut. He/She will be arriving in just 7 short weeks.

See the progression of the nursery below....

Our inspiration for the room was based on the bedding we registered for at Babies R Us. See link or picture below.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3243167