36 WEEKS AND...BABY'S ROOM

I'm 36 weeks today and in my 9th month of pregnancy (a woman is pregnant for a full 9 months so, in other words, the pregnancy takes you through the ninth month). Here is some info on baby:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He is shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement. At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term.

I'm having weekly ultrasounds so we know that (as of this past Tuesday) he was already a solid 6 pounds...chances are, he'll be a big baby. If I don't deliver before, I will be induced at 39 weeks. While I would rather my body go into labor on it's own...there is a lot of convenience having the date scheduled (definitely makes things easier on Glenna & Tony as they are our support system when I go into labor).

We finished up the nursery a few of weeks ago but were waiting on the decal (of his name) to get here before posting pictures. For those of you who don't know...we have picked a name for this little man. His name is Brandon Elijah. I had Bailey's name picked out when I was a teenager...Bailey was my great-grandparents surname and I always had it picked out for a baby girl so, when Boo was born...Tom didn't really have any say. He did however pick her middle name: Katelyn. So, this time around we switched. Tom got to choose the first name and I got the middle.

Tom's a typical man...not a lot of emotional attachment to a name, he just liked the name Brandon and we both liked that kids would have a "B" name. For me, the name Elijah came from Bailey's first bible. It's a short children's bible that my parents gave her with about 20 bible stories...one being the story of Elijah. The first sentence on that page is, "Elijah was a friend of God". From the first time I read that sentence, it grabbed my heart. I remember thinking, "how awesome...to be a friend of God's". To be a friend means there's time invested, trust...a true relationship. How awesome to have that with our Lord! So...there you have it, Brandon Elijah :)



Sorry about the flash!



The dresser (I painted it red) belonged to Great-Grandad Bailey.

FALL FUN...

Tom was out back today cutting the grass so...Bailey grabbed her rake and decided to join him, Cinderella dress and all :) For over an hour she raked, picked up acorns and ran to catch the falling leaves. The weather was perfect (sunny, mid-70's and no humidity) so the time outside went by much too quickly.

Thanks for being such a big helper Boo! With all the leaves that we get, you'll have many more opportunities to help :)




She got pretty good at catching the leaves before they hit the ground :)

SMILE...IT'S PICTURE TIME!

A few weeks ago, we bought a new point-n-shoot camera; so we gave Boo our old one. She loves it! She'll take a picture of anything, taking over 400 pictures in about a week! She's even mastered the "self portrait" (aka hold the camera out in front and take a picture of yourself).

Below are a few of the 400+ she took (she would have taken more, but she had to wait until I cleared out the memory card :)

Enjoy!

RAINY DAY FUN...

What to do on a cold, cloudy, rainy day? Well...build a fort of course! Daddy helped Boo with this one; she had a great time playing in it!



Crazy hair for some crazy playing!

THE ROCK RANCH...

Yesterday we drove down to the The Rock Ranch for the day. This time Glenna and the girls joined us (Tony was home sick....we missed you T!). The lines were longer than our previous trips but still, a really great day :) The girls had a blast and all three fell asleep easily last night...as did, I'm pretty sure, all three adults :)

Pics below include one of Boo and Evan driving a battery operated car (they took turns driving); G & I both looked at each other knowing that we were seeing into the future. Praise God the girls only turn 5 next year! Bailey enjoyed another face painting experience (she's finally grown out of the "oh....that's getting my face dirty" phase) and she did great riding the pony all by herself (she made this declaration while standing in line...I was "not to walk next to her" she told me).

Second to last picture will probably be one of our last as a family of three! The last pic the gang enjoyed shooting some corn out of air cannons...Boo missed Popo with this particular activity.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as we did! :)

THEN...AND NOW...

Here are some comparisons shots...from a visit in 2009 (her 3rd visit :) to this year. In all of these pictures, she's standing next to the character on her chair. Amazing to see the difference in just two years...she's gotten sooo tall!

Plus.... we think Boo only gets more adorable with each year :)

DISNEY!!!

Warning...mass picture alert!

Disney 2011 was the best yet :) The only thing missing was my family, which we hope to fix next year (at least with some of them hopefully joining us). Each year Bailey enjoys it more and more which makes Tom and I enjoy it even more right along with her. She was soooo excited to leave, that she woke up at 3:30AM Tuesday morning (I didn't need to get her up until 6:15am). I know what you're thinking... "so, she went back to sleep...right?". Nope. I didn't let her get out of bed but, she stayed in there talking to her bear about how excited she was to go to Walt Disney World (she kept using the full name :). Needless to say...by the time we went to bed after a full day of Disney activities about 9:30pm, Tom had to carry her up to the condo (she had fallen asleep).

We had a fun, activity-packed trip. Next year we hope to stick in a couple of "down days" where we hang out around the pool or look around Disney hotels...rather than full days at the parks. Of course, I think I've said that before and that never seems to happen :) The weather was really nice up until Friday afternoon/evening. Friday afternoon we had a good hour of rain (off/on) and Friday night about the same. We left Saturday evening, spending the day at Downtown Disney and, unfortunately, it rained (heavy) all day long but...I am so thankful that it held off until Saturday. How sad to spend the money and energy planning a vacation only to have it rain all day :( I felt really bad for the people who flew in on Friday as it was suppose to rain for several days.

While at Disney this year, Bailey got to see several characters. I didn't include the pictures but the ones I can remember were: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip-n-Dale, Lilo and Stitch, Annie, June, Cleo and Quincy, Cinderella, Prince Charming, the mean old stepmother (Bailey did not like her) and the stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia. Boo did not care for Drizella but the girl playing Anastasia cracked her (and us) up...she was perfect for the job (her comebacks were hilarious!). She's the character with the bright red hair in the pictures below.

We also participated in Disney's Halloween party (Friday night 6p to 12m...we made it until about 10:30p). Bailey got to dress up in her new Ella (Cinderella) costume which she loved. We learned however, that 4 is really too young for the Halloween party. She is still learning about reality -vs- fantasy. I think it would have worked a little better if she had been 7 or 8. Nice part however, was once the rain stopped (and the rides opened) you could almost walk onto any ride. She also got to go trick-or-treating and we ended up bringing home a huge bag of candy.

We got home last night around 9:30pm and when Boo awoke this morning she told bear, "I want to go back to Walt Disney World today". Me too baby girl....already planning the trip for next year ;)

HERE WE GO!

After months of counting down...the time has finally come! No, not for baby brother but still something magical.....DISNEY :) SOOOO excited!! I'll post pictures when we return and in another week or so I should be able to post pictures of the baby's room. On the baby front, 32 weeks today and starting my 8th month! :)