More pictures from our trip to California

Here are some more pictures from our road trip and some pictures from my baby shower...

Meteor Crater





Harris Ranch (hehe)

Champs first airplane ride :)

Baby Shower

34 Weeks

This week Emily can be as much as 19 inches long and weigh as much as 5 lbs. She's running out of room, but can still move around a little bit. Lori said her OBGYN noted that Emily is head down. At this point she'll stay head down, which is perfect for delivery. Her hair is continuing to grow, and her lungs are nearly fully mature. Only 38 more days until she's due!!

Eric and I completed our trip out to CA, and I'm actually writing this from Colorado again. It was a whirlwind trip. It seems like no sooner than we had arrived in California, we were boarding a plane back to Colorado. The trip out there was great though. It was so nice to see everyone. I am so blessed to have so many friends and family who came to my baby shower to celebrate Emily with me. I'm so happy that everyone got to see Lori and Richard. They are such amazing people and we'll never thank them enough for what they are doing for us! Emily received a lot of wonderful gifts, and I can't wait to dress her up in all of the cute little clothes she now has. Eric and I left most of her things in California so we have them available when we head back out for Emily's birth. I can't believe in less than three weeks Lori will be full term. It seems like time is passing exponentially faster as each day passes!! We had a great talk with Lori and Richard after the shower and discussed what everyone would like to see happen at the Hospital. We had talked about a lot of things, but it was nice to know that everyone was on the same page for what will happen on Emily's birthday. I'm starting to get worried that somehow Eric and I won't make it for her delivery (just being pessimistic) but we told Lori and Richard to let us know what was going on, and we'd change our flight plans if needed. She has an appointment tomorrow, and hopefully we'll know a little more then.

Well, I am beat. We were up early and after a very busy week I'm ready for bed. I'll post more pictures from our road trip and from the baby shower tomorrow.

Thank you again to everyone who was there with me, I can't tell you how much it means...and I can't wait for you all to meet our little girl :)

In Arizona

Today Eric and I hit the road at about 5:45am. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. It took about three hours for us to get to New Mexico, where we made our first pit stop. Eric took over driving and Champ and I took a nap. After about 7 hours we were in Albuquerque. We didn't want to stop in the big city so we continued on another hour or so to Grant, NM. We got lunch at Taco Bell and since they didn't have any out door seating we drove to Walmart and ate on a bench. We wanted champ to be able to move around a bit! Champ has done great so far. He just sleeps in the car, mostly on a pillow on my lap. He slept for a little bit in his kennel (we put his dog bed in there) but he seems to like being up front with us better. It's ok, I like cuddling him anyway! It took us about 12 hours total to make it to Winslow, AZ where we're calling it a day. We're staying at the America's Best Value Inn. They conveniently have free Wi-Fi and a free continental breakfast in the morning. We plan on heading out rather early again. We'd like to see Meteor Crater, and may or may not take a quick 130 mile detour to the Grand Canyon. We're not sure if it's worth it yet. We wouldn't be able to stay long. At the same time...we don't know when we'll be back in this part of the country again. I guess we'll just have to see how we feel tomorrow! Our ultimate goal is to make it to Bakersfield, CA where we'll stay the night before finishing our trip to Livermore. Well, that's been it so far. I'll post some pictures of what we've seen (but it hasn't been too much, lol). I've learned that New Mexico must be the world record holder for road construction (it seems like one of every 2 miles was being worked on, hence the speed limit reduced) and it is also very heavy on Indian Casinos and Navajo Jewelry stores!!! Maybe someday we'll stop in to visit one...or maybe not, haha! For now, Eric and I are just going to relax for a little longer and then head out to get some dinner. I'll try to post again tomorrow (pending our next hotel has free internet!).

Jenny

Trying to sleep

Some parts of New Mexico were beautiful

Western New Mexico

Finally in Arizona

Are we there yet???

Champ's first night in a hotel

Trip to CA

In just a few short hours Eric, Champ and I will be on our way to California. We plan to be on the road by about 5:30am. Yes, I know I should be in bed right now (it's 11:15pm), but I'm just so excited (and paranoid that I'll forget to pack something into the car) that I can't sleep!!! Tomorrow Eric and I plan to travel all the way to Winslow, AZ. It's just shy of Flagstaff. We'll stay the night there, and on Wednesday morning we'll visit Meteor Crater before hitting the road again. Then, we'll travel another 8 hours to Bakersfield, CA and stay the night there. We plan to be in Livermore around lunch time on Thursday. That will give us most of Thursday, all day Friday and all day Saturday to visit. Our flight back to Colorado leaves SFO around 10:30am on Sunday, so that day is pretty much shot. We had to try and plan our plane travel during the warmest parts of the day to allow Champ to fly. Pets aren't allowed to go if the temperature in either city is below 40 F. SO, hopefully Colorado will cooperate and allow us to come home! I'm really looking forward to this trip out and seeing everyone, even if it is just for a couple of days. Before we know it, we'll be flying back out to see Emily born.

Well, I should log off and try to hit the hay. I'll try to update tomorrow night and let you know how our first day of driving was! Good night!!!

33 Weeks

Almost there!!! Just 7 more weeks until Emily is due (4 weeks until full term)! This week Emily is almost 18 inches long and weighs more than 4 lbs. In theory... :) I spoke to Lori on the phone today, and it sounds like they're predicting Emily to be pretty small...not unexpected! Kylie and Amy were both under 6lbs, so we're expecting around the same for Emily. Guess she'll get to wear those newborn clothes! :) Right now fetal development is focusing on growing, mostly in weight. Emily can potentially gain as much as half a pound each week from here on out. That's pretty amazing when you consider it took almost 14 weeks just to reach half a pound total!!! Emily's lungs are continuing to develop, however there is a chance that if she were born now that she'd require no oxygen support (we still hope to make it to at least 37 weeks though!). Her nervous system and brain are continuing to develop and get ready for life on the outside! Currently Emily can do everything any other newborn can do...except cry :)

Lori sent me a couple of videos of Emily moving around and I had happy tears in my eyes watching them! I'm feel so blessed that both Lori and Emily are so healthy and that in 7 short weeks we'll be holding our first baby. A year ago, I was beginning to think I'd never be in this place, so I'm savoring the moment(s).

Eric and I are riding out our first big snow storm of the year. We've had snow off and on since the end of September, but today is some serious stuff. At 5pm we already had almost 10 inches of snow on the back deck...and the snow is supposed to continue falling until tomorrow evening. Luckily, right now there's a small break in the snow, but the wind has kept up. The snow is beautiful, but I hate driving in it. Since last summer, after taking out the pole on the highway in a thunderstorm, I get nervous driving in bad weather. I do ok until the car slips a little bit and then I get this feeling that I'm going to spin out of control again. I have to try, with a lot of effort, to calm myself and realize that the car isn't sliding and I'm ok. What I like best about the snow is sitting inside by the fire, Champ resting on my lap, reading a book (or watching TV), eating some banana bread (which I made for the first time this weekend) and sipping a warm drink. I do love the various seasons we get here in Colorado (except we apparently skipped over Fall this year). All of the greenery and the thunderstorms in the summer, the trees changing colors in the fall, the snow covered mountains in the winter, and the blooming flowers in the spring. A lot of things you just don't see in California. If I could get my whole family to move here to Colorado with me, it'd be just perfect!!!

Well, I think that's about it. Eric and I are preparing for our trip to CA next week. I work Saturday, Sunday and Monday night and we leave Tuesday morning. I think I'm going to see if I can be put on call on Monday night...otherwise we'll just leave when I get home from work that morning! I took Champ to the vet yesterday to get him checked out and got his health certificate and his "permission slip" to fly. He's a whooping 21 lbs now!!! We were told he'd be 8-9 lbs when we got him, lol. They were just a little off ;) He's doing well with his crate. We parked it in front of the fireplace, threw treats in there, fed him in there, put his bed in there...and now he'll just go and lie down in it. I think he'll do well on the plane!

Well, I'm writing a novel this week, so I think I'll end things here. Not much else going on anyway :) Here are some pictures of the snow today!

32 Weeks

This week Emily is around 17 inches long and weighs in around 4lbs. She could still grow another 2-4 inches and possibly double her weight in the next 8 weeks! She's currently about the size of a honeydew! Only 55 more days!!!
Today I'm going to do my first load of baby laundry :) (yes, I'm so excited now...but I'm sure after the 110th load it'll lose it's novelty, lol). Eric ran out to get a haircut, so I asked him to pick up some Dreft. I'll wash Emily's blankets and a few of the outfits we'll be bringing to CA with us. Only just over a week left until we leave for our first trip out to CA. I'm looking forward to the trip, even though it'll be extremely short. Once we return home I only have 8 shifts left at work (10 if I get called in on my two call shifts) before we return to CA for Emily's birth.

It's already starting to feel a bit like Christmas here in Colorado!! We got about 6 inches of snow in Aurora yesterday! There were a couple of inches on my car when I left work yesterday morning at 5:30am and it just continued to snow all day up until about midnight. Some of the snow is already melting off, but our backyard faces north and is in shadow most of the time...so all of the snow is still sitting on our deck. We shoveled a path so Champ can go out. I guess he's decided he likes the snow again because yesterday when Eric was out shaking the snow off the trees Champ was running around like crazy, plowing through the snow drifts. It's such a funny thing to watch a miniature pinscher plow through snow drifts!

Well, that's pretty much all that's going on this week. Just getting ready for the trip to CA and trying to survive the snow, lol. Should make for a pretty and interesting road trip!

31 Weeks

Single digits!!!! I can't believe Emily will be here in 9 weeks!! This week Emily is about 17 inches long and weighs nearly 4 lbs. She's continuing to put on"white" fat that'll give her that cute little chubby baby look. This is different from the Brown fat that is developed and stored mostly between the shoulder blades and on the neck (you can't see it and it doesn't make the baby look any different). Brown fat is essential because since babies are notoriously bad at regulating their own temperature, brown fat can be burned off and turned into heat...keeping the baby warm. This week Emily's lungs are nearly mature, but will continue to grow stronger every week until birth. In fact, all of her organs though fully developed will only continue to grow stronger with each passing day!! These last few weeks of pregnancy are very important and vital to brain development. They have actually found significant differences in brain function between babies born at 37 weeks and babies born at 40-41 weeks. So, the longer Emily stays in, the more her brain will continue to develop...and hopefully she'll get to the point where only Eric can help her with her math homework, lol!!!

Eric and I met with our lawyer again this week to sign more papers. He said right now we stand to have all of the paperwork that we can have done before Emily is born finished and submitted by the end of November. After Emily is born, he will request a court date here in Colorado for sometime in January when they will finalize the adoption. Once that is done, we can get birth certificates with our names on them. So, right now we're just waiting for our background checks to clear, which will take another few weeks. I feel a huge sense of relief knowing the paperwork is under way!!

I took an adoption class yesterday for work. It was centered on how health care providers can better assist birth families and adoptive families while they're with us. It was interesting and I learned a few things. I definitely walked out of there relieved to know that a lawyer facilitated adoption (in the case of kinship adoptions) is 100% legal. It is the only type of adoption in Colorado that doesn't have to be facilitated by an Agency. (WHEW). There was a tiny little part of me that was still nervous that someday somehow we'd find out that we DID need an agency. So, my fears are laid to rest!!

I've been thinking about what things Eric and I will need to bring to CA with us when we drive out there in a few weeks. I've decided to only pull tags off and wash a couple of outfits, That way, if she's miraculously born over 8lbs and skips right over all of the NB stuff, I can still take it back and get some bigger sizes. Both of Lori's other girls were so tiny at birth! Both were under 6 lbs! I'm kind of expecting Emily to be on the smaller side too...but you just never know!!!

Well, that's about it for now. I'm posting some of the pictures from my baby shower my friend Bre from work threw. She did a BEAUTIFUL job!!!

Me and Bre

Diaper Cake Yummy Food

Airplane Cookies

Cakes and FavorsThe favors: little suitcases filled with chocolatesThe cake Bre Made!Flowers made of onesies, pants, socks...