Sam's Room!

We finished Sam's room a while ago, but I thought I'd post some pics I just uploaded. I love the way his room turned out!

I love the lamp!

Now we just need to add a few more finishing touches, we have a shelf to hang up and I want to put a vinyl saying on the wall, I just haven't decided what yet. Only 3 1/2 weeks!

School is starting! Where did the summer go?

Today was our first faculty meeting for preschool! It was fun to be back, the meetings went great, and I just love the school that I work for (and the people I work with, which makes it very nice), but I can't believe it's already time for school to start! What happened to summer? It seemed extra short this year.
Max is very ready for preschool though, he is getting excited to meet his new teacher and to do "projects". He keeps wanting to work on "scissoring paper", "drawing maps", writing names and reading his books. I love that he is so interested in learning. He's such a smart boy and I'm excited to see what he'll do in school this year!

At least my 4 year old still thinks I'm cute!

Yesterday I was coming down our stairs trying to fix my skirt (that I couldn't see thanks to the gigantic belly). I could feel that the seams were somehow off, not on the sides, but on the front and back. I couldn't figure out how to straighten them out. Max and Riley were at the bottom of the stairs watching me squirm around in an attempt to make my skirt look decent (Riley thinks it's funny that even getting dressed is becoming super hard on me...LOL). I finally got it fixed (I think, I still couldn't see it) and asked Riley, "Ry, how does this look? Did I get the seams fixed."

My super sweet 4 year old responded, "Mom, those earrings are GORGEOUS, and you can wear that shirt when I grow up and we can get married!" Thanks, Max! That's just what mommy needed to hear. I love you my sweet bean!

An Amazing 8 Years!

"True love is spending one day getting married... And the rest of your life feeling glad you did."Eight years ago today (8/2), Riley got to enjoy a full day in a black Tuxedo in the blistering hot sun. The things we do for love! :-) Seriously, though, it was an awesome day. . .
And, what an amazing 8 years we have had. Happy Anniversary Baby!
Riley is the absolute best husband and father. He is so optimistic, generous, loving, logical, grounded, crazy smart, understanding, accepting, funny, supportive, and very good looking. :-) Being with Riley makes me a better person, and I love that we have spent the past 8 years learning, growing, and building an incredible life together. Max looks up to his daddy so much, and tells me often that he wants to be "just like dad" when he grows up. I adore how much Riley really cherishes his time off work and loves to be with his family, Max and I are always looking forward to dad's days off. I love you Riley! Happy 8th Anniversary!

“The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.”--Hugh Walpole, Sr.

Memories

Here is a fun little game... Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! (Including memories of Riley and/or Max)

Also, feel free to re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark...get set...blog your memories!!

Only 50 days left!

WOOHOO! Only 50 days left until we meet Sam! I am getting so excited, even though I know these 50 days are the LONGEST of the entire pregnancy. :-)

I only have a few things left to do. We have Sam's room almost finished (thanks Riley and mom for all of your help!) We got some awesome new shelving and from IKEA, and I love it! I will post pictures of the finished room when we get around to hanging the shelf. I have also brought home all of the baby stuff that we still had stashed in my parent's basement from when we moved (thanks for the free storage mom and dad!). The clothes, car seat, bouncer, and pack and play are cleaned and ready to go. Now I think we just need to stock up on diapers and wipes and we're good to go!

I am still feeling great, and the heat hasn't been too bad, although I don't think I'm spending quite as much time outside as I normally would. I also occasionally have to adjust our air conditioner to keep from sweating to death, but it hasn't bugged me as much as I thought it would.

So, I need advice from moms. . .I have thought about getting a boppy pillow this time around, with this really cute dino cover, but can't decide. If you have had one, did you use it? Love it/Hate it? Do you recommend getting one? And, if so, just the normal boppy pillow, or a different style???

More Max Funnies

Lately, Max has had an obsession with caves, underground caves, cave dwellers, etc.
At Karate Wednesday, they were doing sword fights at the end of class. After a few rounds of 3 on 3, they decided to play "protect the King". The teacher asked the kids how their strategy would need to change if they were trying to protect their "King". Max (in his own little 4 year old world) raised his hand and answered:

"Well, if we go into underground caves, and there is bears, then we will die."

The teacher and all of the parents were laughing so hard. Guess he missed the point of the game. . .

It's been a long week...

First off, Riley has been pretty sick. On Monday, he went to the Dr. and he has bronchitis . . . so much for not getting sick in the summer! I thought when it was warm outside we'd get a break for a while. :-) The joys of being a nurse I guess. Luckily, the Dr. did prescribe some great meds, so he is on the mend, I'm guessing the nasty cough will linger for just a little while longer.

The second part of our long week started when I was 20 weeks pregnant. At the 20 week ultrasound, we found that Sam's kidneys were both mildly dilated. We were told that this finding is fairly common, especially in boys, and that we would have a follow-up ultrasound at 32 weeks to make sure that it had corrected itself. So, for the next twelve weeks I worried about it but tried to stay optimistic and hoped that it was a small glitch that would correct itself.

Fast forward to this week. . . On Monday, we went in for the 32 week ultrasound. My Dr.'s office got a new 3D ultrasound, so we got to see Sam in 3D and it was pretty neat. The ultrasound was quick, and everything looked great. . . except his kidneys. One is very mildly dilated (good news), but one was close to 3 times what is considered normal. The ultrasound tech told us that she'd let the Dr. see the Ultrasound and we'd hear more at my regular Dr. appointment on Wednesday. I, of course, was getting pretty worried.

Later that day, the nurse from my Dr.'s office called and told me that she had made an appointment for me at Maternal Fetal Medicine for Tuesday (the next day). She also informed me that the MFM specialists usually work in worst case scenario, so be prepared to be scared! After I got off the phone, I lost it. I had been nervous about the situation, but now I was totally freaked out! Riley was so great about everything (I am continually reminded how lucky I am to have him!)--he took me to dinner and a movie to try to keep my mind off of things. Also, we did our fair share of internet research that night (in typical Riley and Nicole fashion) to find out what we might be hearing at the appointment. There was quite a bit of info on the internet, as well as lots of moms on message boards wondering some of the exact same things as me.

Going into the appointment on Tuesday, I had no idea what to expect. When they called me back, I was taken into yet another ultrasound room. Despite all the worries, it is always fun to see your baby. He moved and rolled around A LOT at this appointment, apparently he wanted some privacy. The ultrasound tech did a very thorough ultrasound (despite my near fainting...LOL...the stress was getting to me!) and again, everything looked great except for the kidneys, which looked just about identical to the day before. When the specialist came in to talk to us, she showed us that the left kidney and ureter were much bigger than normal (you shouldn't even see a ureter on an ultrasound), and that she suspects a blockage somewhere between the kidney and bladder, although the blockage wasn't apparent by ultrasound. She thinks the right kidney is mildly dilated to compensate for the left, but the good news is, my amniotic fluid looks great, so the kidneys are still doing their job and, no treatment is needed until after birth! Also, she was very optimistic that no long term damage has been done to his kidneys.

The specialist was so great! Apparently, I got the nicer, less scary one. I'm so glad that we had done our research beforehand so that she couldn't really scare us (some of the things we had read online were much scarier than anything she told us!) and we already had a pretty good idea of what was coming up. Current diagnosis: fetal hydronephrosis.

Best case scenario, it will resolve itself after birth, but he will need to be on antibiotics at birth to prevent any UTI's that might result from extra fluid backed up in his system. We will also need to meet with a pediatric urologist after he's born to see if everything is working properly. If it is a blockage that doesn't clear itself up, he will probably need to have a scope to find the problem and/or a surgical procedure to fix the problem. In any case, I am SOOO glad that we have insurance. :-)

It's sad to think that my tiny little baby will need to have any type of procedure done to him, but I am so glad that everything else looks great with him, and that this is going to be a minor issue that we can deal with while he's still very little. After the mental/emotional roller coaster, I am glad to have some answers and can again feel optimistic about the situation.

Only 7 1/2 weeks until we meet our little guy! (I need to scan in some Ultrasound pics to share, I'll get around to it sometime this weekend!)