Block Leave sure did make November fly by for us. We can't even believe that it is already December and our daughter is due next month. For the longest time it felt as if January was so far away and would never be here. But, here it is, just a small time away and we will be meeting Stella before we know it! I'm trying so hard to not wish away this time. These are our last weeks with Gavin being our "only" and I want so bad to soak up all this time with him too and do all we can to prepare him for the arrival of a new little sister. He is going to be such a great brother.
Jason returned back to work on the 1st. I was hoping for a 9am work call so that we could enjoy one last breakfast at home with us before the reality of work was back, but the alarm went off nonetheless and he was out the door at 5am.
Gavin is so off his schedule from leave, often times refusing to nap and always wanting someone to lay down with him until he falls asleep. As much as I want to cuddle with him, I don't want him to get used to me doing something that I can't continue once Stella is here. He's much better about this now that we're back home working on getting back on schedule, but he still wakes up almost every morning at 1am and walks into our room. 1/2 the time I'm so out of it I just put him in our bed and then when we wake up I'm so confused as to how he got in there. The one perk to him not napping lately is that he has been sleeping in. And when I say sleeping in, I mean until like 9:30 or 10am! This is such a treat for us, especially this weekend. Jason and I really enjoyed getting to sleep in until 10am yesterday! I know I need to get back to waking him up at his normal 7:30-8am wake time until he is back on a normal schedule, which includes a nap. That will be my goal this week! It's so hard to wake a sleeping child though!
Wednesday we had our 31/32 week doctors appointment. My belly measured right at 31 weeks. Stella's heart rate was 145 bpm. My blood pressure was 90/56 and I'm at almost 25 pounds gained. (Darn those extra Thanksgiving pounds!) We reviewed my glucose and iron results from the previous appointment and both were great. My only issue I wanted to discuss was my extreme dry, itchy skin this pregnancy. She had some suggestions for me and I'm hoping they will help! My 2 week followup is scheduled for December 15th. After the appointment we stopped by Lake Mayor so I could walk a couple miles and take Gavin to the park then we came home and started to get a few of Stella's things washed and put away. There isn't much that needs to be done but I did want to get her newborn clothes washed, make sure we had enough diapers for the first little bit, and get her changing table/dresser combo in some sort of order. I also washed the swing and car seat inserts so those are ready as well! All I need to do is get the hospital and diaper bags packed and make sure I have all the little supplies for nursing. We're so much more prepared this time around since we know what to expect!
Thursday Gavin and I did some more house cleaning and grocery shopping. Someone had posted a Vegetable Beef Soup recipe online that I just had to try out! We had it with grilled cheese sandwiches and it was a great dinner. I also got an early Christmas gift on Thursday. Our vacuum had broken awhile back and we were doing all we could to make it last until we could research and afford a new one. Starla had picked up the Consumer Report magazine which had a huge article on vacuums so I read that, we asked around, price shopped, and ended up going with the Hoover Platinum Lightweight. It was the #1 rated vacuum on the consumer reports. It earned the highest ratings for carpets, bare floors, and pet hair. The vacuum retails for $300 but I was able to find it for 25% off at Amazon.com and free shipping. Can't beat getting the #1 rated vacuum for $224. I love how light weight it is and that it included a hand held vacuum for baseboards, furniture, walls, etc. I just LOVE it!
Friday another special gift arrived in the mail - a dog bed for LT! I'd seen the bed on Chad and Tiffany's blog and knew that LT just needed to have his own! I ordered the extra large and when it arrived I realized I probably should have just gotten the large. It's HUGE! But, LT (and Gavin) love, love, love it. It's literally like a king sized bed for a dog.
That evening Jason and I had a Hail and Farewell to attend. Sadly, this one was our farewell. (The Mangum's offered to keep Gavin for us, which was a HUGE relief to know that he was going to have a great time catching up with Max and Ace while we were at the farewell.) We aren't leaving here until February, but Jason has already started his "transition" with the guy that will be taking his job, so I'm assuming that is why we were already farewelled. Jason made a very sweet speech that almost had all of us woman in tears! Several of our close friends were also farewelled. The nice thing is that we will almost all be moving to the same place within a few weeks of each other. It'll be so nice to have friends of ours there with us while we're at Ft. Benning. After the Hail and Farewell several of us went down to Rocks on the Roof and listened to live music while sitting around a big table hanging out. It was a nice time. Thanks, Mangum's, for making our night possible!
Here are lots of pictures from our first 3 days of December. We have a busy, busy month ahead of us. I hope I can keep up with this blog!
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| Newborn diapers are SO tiny! |
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| Our new diaper bag for Stella, a generous gift from our high school friend, Gary |
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| Swinging at Lake Mayor |
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| The new vacuum! |
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| I told you it was HUGE |
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| I'd say he's a fan :) |
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Jason and I after the Hail and Farewell.
I received a yellow rose for this being our anniversary month and the red is for the farewell. |
