29 WEEKS

Today I'm 29 weeks along which means 11 weeks to go!! I'm really getting excited. Tonight, Chris and I put together our Pack n Play and our stroller/car seat. Having all of his new things in the house makes it seem so real. I can't believe that we'll be bringing him home in a few short weeks. Well okay, I have a feeling those last couple of weeks in the Texas July heat won't feel very short! But a girl can dream.

Yesterday was Derby and Chris and I celebrated here in Texas. We went to a friend's house for a party and introduced all of our friends to Mint Juleps and Hot Browns. They were a big hit! I have so many happy memories of Derby time growing up, that I look forward to being able to bring Raisin home for some of the festivities. I know it won't be the same for him not growing up in Louisville, but hopefully he'll have an appreciation and a love for my favorite holiday!!

LOUISVILLE TRIP

Chris and I spent this past weekend back home in Louisville. Even though we were only home for 4 days we did so much and we were able to see lots of family and friends. Saturday was the Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon which Chris ran as did most of the rest of my family. I was able to spectate which was a blast. On Sunday a couple of my mom's friends and family hosted a baby shower for Raisin. It was a very nice shower and I had a great time. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to attend and to the great ladies who hosted. I truly appreciate it.
I also just went to the Doctor yesterday and we had another ultra-sound of Raisin. They did this one to get a better picture of the heart which they were able to see and everything looks good. He weighs 2lbs 13oz, which the Doctor said is average for this gestational age. It was definitely a relief to find out that all is well. We were also able to confirm that he is definitely a boy. Always nice to get extra confirmation!! He was so cute though, he had his foot up over his head! I'm not sure how he's doing that, but he must be bendy!!

Here we are at 28 weeks.

BABYMOON IN BOSTON

This weekend Chris and I went to Boston for our "Babymoon"! (Apparently, this is a semi-real thing right now and people are taking little trips before the baby comes to get away for a while and just spend some time doing non-baby related things. This is not the reason we decided to do this, but we ended up calling it our "Babymoon" because we thought that sounded funny!) Well, we decided to go to Boston, MA and had a blast! We stayed downtown at the Omni Parker House, which is the oldest running hotel in the country. I would reccomend this hotel to anyone, it was beautiful and in a great location. We walked or took the subway everywhere. We were right on the freedom trail and did a ton of walking and of course, eating. We ate at the most AMAZING little Italian restaurant on Saturday night. It was located in the North End, which is Boston's Little Italy and it was so small that it only had about 12 tables smashed inside. They only accept cash and when we arrived there was already a line outside, but the waitress saw us and that we were a table of two and called us in immediately. We definitely lucked out, because when we left the line was down the street of people waiting to get inside and oh by the way, it was raining. That should tell you something about how wonderful the food was! Then after that we went to Mike's Pastry's, which is apparently very very popular as well. The line was about 6 people deep all along the counter. We bought a chocolate chip canoli, a black and white cookie, a rum square and some marzipan. WONDERFUL!!! Well worth the wait! I've attached a couple of pictures to show you all the fun times that we had.

Chris and his 3 Pound lobster. And yes, he ate the entire thing!!

Andrea with Alaskan King Crab Legs - DELICIOUS!!!

The street where I want to live in Beacon Hill. The only drawback would be being John Kerry's neighbor.

Okay, Here is my 26 week belly. I am definitely getting much bigger!! And now having back aches daily. But overall, I feel great! Chris and I are going to our Childbirth Preparation Class this Saturday. I'm really excited about it, but a little bit nervous. I know we're going to be overloaded with information. But I look forward to learning lots and getting the hospital tour.

Naming Raisin

So this weekend Chris and I really started discussing names. And before you start asking, we aren't telling the name until he makes his grand entrance into this world. So Mom, quit trying to trip me up! Besides, we haven't even decided upon one yet. But this decision is SO difficult. I'm not quite sure how anyone ever comes up with the perfect name. We don't even know him yet! How am I supposed to know what his name is????

Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday I had my 24 week check-up. I was supposed to see the doctor, but they screwed up the schedule and I saw the nurse practitioner instead. She's not my favorite, but it went alright. They said that I should see the doctor for the rest of my appointments and I'm going to make sure that I do. I had the glucose test that tests for gestational diabetes. I had to drink this sugary orange liquid, wait an hour, and then have blood drawn. I had heard that the drink was terrible and very difficult to drink, but I didn't think it was that bad. It really just tasted like very sugary orange soda. The worst part was drawing the blood. They didn't get enough from the first arm, so they had to take more from the other. Really not a big deal, but I hate having blood drawn! I'm just not very good at it. But I got the test results back today and everything was just fine. They also weighed me and though I'm not going to post (for all of the world to see) the exact weight, you can believe it was plenty. I was a little shocked to see the scale go up so high! She said it's not too much, but I was still a little taken aback by the number.

The best news from the appointment was that they scheduled a 3rd ultrasound for 4 weeks from now. Nothing is wrong, it's just that in the last ultrasound Raisin was curled up and they couldn't get a good enough picture of his heart. So they want to do another to make sure that all is well.

Alright, well that's all for now. I'm having some heartburn from dinner that I need to try to remedy. Good night!