30 Weeks

This week Emily is just around 16 inches long (she'll add another 4 or 5 inches before she's born). She weighs in just around 3 lbs, but she's still got a lot of weight to put on and will more than double her weight in the next 10 weeks.

This weekend is my first baby shower. My wonderful friends from work have put a lot of time and energy into things, and I'm really looking forward to it!! I can't believe it's already here!!! The shower will be held at my house, so I've been busy cleaning and organizing so I can have everyone over.

We got more information from our Lawyer today and have a few more forms to fill out and submit to the court. It looks like everything is on track though. What a relief that is!!!

To our surprise, we got a good amount of snow today!! Yep...SNOW! It snowed lightly back on Sept. 21 and then again earlier this week, but neither of those times was enough to stick. That changed today!! It snowed most of the afternoon, and even got heavy at times. Our deck is covered in a fresh layer of snow and the ground is covered in patches. I have to admit I wasn't quite ready for snow yet! I had just found all of my sweaters!! It seems like Colorado has completely skipped fall and went straight from summer into winter! Haha! It is supposed to snow more this weekend, and I've heard it could be up to a few inches!

The time is nearing for our trips to CA. The first during the first week of November when we'll be driving to CA to leave my car. During that trip Mema, Bonnie, and Patti have graciously offered to throw me another baby shower for all of my friends and family back home in CA. I feel so blessed to have so many people in my life who put time and energy into doing these wonderful things for us! Just a few short weeks after that trip we'll be returning to CA to get ready for Emily's arrival (if she doesn't decide to show up a little early). I can't believe she's due in just 10 short weeks. These past few months have flown by!! It's hard to believe we first learned of Emily when she was just 9 weeks along!! It won't be long now until I'm finally a mommy!!!! :)

29 Weeks

Wow, already 29 weeks!! This week Emily is just over 16 inches long and weighs almost 3 lbs. She's about the size of a squash :)

She'll have more energy thanks to the fat depositing on her body, and her brain continues to develop so she can eventually earn that full ride to an Ivy league school, lol. She can open and close her eyes, and can even react to changes in light. Her lungs continue to develop and get ready for all the work they're going to do in just 11 short weeks! Only 76 days until her expected arrival!

Yesterday Eric and I met with our lawyer. We learned that we are, luckily, not as far behind in the process as we may have thought. Today I'll be sending off our TRAILS background check forms which look into any history of child abuse or neglect...luckily neither of which apply to either of us! I'll also be sending off our finger print cards to have our Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) criminal background checks done. Luckily, we're both squeaky clean there too, lol. Getting finger printed was interesting! I had been fingerprinted back in CA to get my RN license, but it was done on a computer pad and was very clean, lol. This time, it was the old sticky black ink stuff! Even though we were there to be fingerprinted for adoption...it still feels weird! You want to look at the other people sitting there and say "ohhhh, I'm not in trouble...I'm adopting a baby." LOL. We talked to the lawyer about what still needs to be done, and he said he'd be meeting with the Judge on Tuesday to talk to him/her about what other documentation they would like, and to see if he can submit our petition for kinship adoption in the hopes we can ammend it later when we have Emily's birth information. That way, we can get the clock ticking. Our background checks will take 3-5 weeks to come back to us, and then we pretty much just wait.

I called San Ramon Regional Medical Center yesterday to talk to their L&D unit about what they would require from us in order to stay at the hospital when Emily is born and what they need in order for us to walk out of the door with her. The person I spoke with, I'm guessing the charge RN, said that they always try to accomodate adoptive parents with a room, and most of the time are able to do so. Pretty much the same as at my hospital. At birth they'll band the baby and then give one band to the birth mom and one band to one of the adoptive parents. In order to leave the hospital with Emily they only require a letter showing us as the legal guardians. If for some reason we don't have that letter and worst comes to worst, then Lori will have to hand her over once we walk out of the hospital doors. That sounds bad, lol. "Where should we meet to make the exchange?" Oh well.

I have to say God bless the internet! Throughout this whole process so far, being able to do research online has helped make this process a little easier. Definitely not easy, but easier! Apparently if you want to adopt a child you'd better have a computer, lawyer, and an IQ of 150, lol! (No, my IQ is not 150). ;)

The weather has dropped here in Denver. Fall is definitely in the air. I love fall. All the pretty colors, the leaves all changing on the trees (though I admit I HATE raking up all of the leaves from the 2 billion aspen trees in our yard!). I'm "fall cleaning" today and getting ready for my baby shower next weekend. Two great friends from work, Bre and KJ, are throwing my shower and it'll be held at my house. I've been cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, and shampooing. Eric is working on finishing the deck. Only a little left to paint and we're good. I hope it lasts at least a few years...and then even Eric said we should go for the Trex Deck! :)

Well, I think that's pretty much it for the past week. More to come soon :)

28 Weeks

Welcome to the third trimester!!! This week fetal development is focused on continuing brain development. The brain is starting to develop it's distinctive wrinkles. Emily's hair is continuing to grow, however the lanugo that started forming around 15 weeks of pregnancy is now starting to shed and will be mostly gone by the time she is born. Emily is now about 16 inches long and weighs around 2.5lbs.

We finally got a hold of our lawyer and will be meeting with him on Wednesday to go over the paperwork. On Monday or Tuesday Eric and I will be heading to Denver to be fingerprinted for our background checks. We're definitely behind, I think, when it comes to the legal stuff, but I'm trying to stay positive and hope that things will move quickly and be complete when Emily arrives.

Just 81 days to go until we get to meet our little girl!!!

Airplane Chandelier

We installed the airplane chandelier :) It wasn't too bad and took us just over an hour. We think it looks great in the nursery! It also holds three 60 watt bulbs so it brightens the room a lot more than the old light that was in there. I think it's a keeper ;) Now we just need the glider, which I think we're gonna go get tomorrow.

27 Weeks

This week marks the last week of the second trimester! As of today we only have 89 days left until Emily's estimated arrival!! At 27 weeks Emily is about 15 inches long and weighs in around 2 lbs. She's about the size of an eggplant.

This week Emily is opening and closing her eyes and her eyelashes are starting to grow. At this point you might be able to feel her little movements when she gets the hiccups!

Eric and I can't wait to hold our baby girl in our arms, and December is just around the corner!! I can't believe we're already half way through September!

The airplane chandelier Eric and I ordered for Emily's nursery arrived a couple of days ago, and I'm hoping we'll be able to put it up today. I've changed out a light fixture before, but not a chandelier, so I think this will be a little more work. Luckily, Eric is home this time and we can work together. I'll post some pictures when we get it installed!

I was thinking about going and buying a baby doll today. Crystal, one of my closest friends gave me the idea. She said to carry the doll around like you would a baby. Talk to it, play with it, cuddle with it...that way Champ can get used to a baby being around. Luckily Champ is a good dog. He's just really playful, so if we get get him used to being gentle to the baby before she even arrives things will be so much easier at home!

In news outside of the baby realm, Eric and I are getting ready to work on the deck. We need to restain and reseal it. We haven't had much rain since early July, and no rain is forecasted in the next few days, so now's the time. I'll be able to help Eric today, tomorrow and early Sunday. On Sunday evening I'm headed to Colorado Springs with Bre, a friend from work, for a two day advanced fetal monitoring course. It should be interresting! Since so much of what we do is based on fetal monitoring in L&D this class should be great and I hope to learn a lot that will help me be even better at my job! I'll be gone until Tuesday evening and then I work on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm spoiled and not used to this 5 days of work thing...LOL!!!

Well, I think I'm going to get up and clean the house a bit while Eric is at Centennial Airport. He's taking the Cessna up to get ready for his biannual flight review at the end of the month. I can't believe it's already been two years since he got his pilot's license!

26 Weeks

This week Emily weighs in at almost 2 lbs and is about 14 inches head to heel! The length of her spine matches the approximate width of an adult human hand when the fingers are stretched out! This week Emily's eyes continue to open and the nerves in her ears continue to develop, making hearing a more consistent daily event. She is soothed by voices talking, reading and singing to her. Emily's lungs are continuing to develop and produce surfactant. She is taking practice breaths and preparing for life outside of the womb. We're coming up on the end of the second trimester with only a week and a half to go!!

This week Eric and I bought our plane tickets to travel to and from California for Emily's birth. We will be driving to CA on November 3 and plan to make a couple of sight seeing trips along the way. We're hoping to see Meteor Crater in Arizona (http://www.meteorcrater.com/index.php) as well as make a stop in the Grand Canyon (http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm). We'll get to CA on the morning of Nov 6. We'll be leaving my car in CA in preparation for Emily's birth, and then we'll fly back home on Sunday, Nov. 8. Then we have tickets to come back on Dec. 9 when Lori will be 39 weeks pregnant. We checked with Frontier Airlines to see what their policy would be if we would need to change our reservations in the event Lori goes into labor before the 9th, and they said it would just be a $50 fee per passenger and the difference in ticket price. Not too bad. We'll be flying with Champ, and his ticket was just $100 (no fee if we have to change dates). Southwest no longer allows you to check pets, and Champ is too big to fit in the carrier that is allowed in the cabin of the plane. Frontier was very comparable in price, and we are allowed two free checked bags and get free Direct TV on the flight.

Eric and I ordered the airplane chandelier for Emily's nursery. It's due to arrive here on the 15th. I can't wait to see it and get it installed in the room!

"Meeting" Emily for the first time at 25 weeks

This past week was amazing. I got to travel to CA for my sisters birthday, go camping at MacKerricher, get together with friends, hang out with my sister, spend time playing with the most adorable nephew in the whole world, see my dad, see Mema, Papa, Aunt Paula and Grammy Carol, see Kylie and Amy, and see Lori. It was the first time I had seen Lori since this journey began. It was surreal seeing her cute pregnant belly and knowing our baby was inside. I was able to feel Emily move a few times and she even got in a couple of good kicks. It was just amazing!!! Lori and I were able to spend the day together talking about the baby and how excited we were. I honestly couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law. She kept talking about how she is so excited for us and can't wait to make us parents. This whole experience has already changed our lives so much, and we can't thank Lori and Richard enough. They are giving us the most amazing gift. Getting to go to CA and feel my daughter move around is something I'll never forget!!

Mommy saying "hi" to Emily

Aunt Patti excited to feel Emily move

Happy Mommy to be :)

Mema and Grammy Carol finished the Bumper for the crib and I was able to bring it home. Mema also bought us an airplane mobile which looks perfect in the nursery. I am so thankful for all of the love and hard work they are putting into all of this. I'm so lucky to have such loving people in my life, and Emily is going to be one lucky baby too :) Here are some pictures of the crib with the bumper and mobile:

It looks PERFECT!
This one is for Grammy Carol!