Merry Christmas and 34 weeks!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  This was the first year we've ever stayed in Denver, and we had a lot of relaxing fun.  We of course missed seeing lots of you but it was nice to not have to travel--especially with how tired and restless I've been as my belly gets bigger!  It was also special to spend the first Christmas morning at our house, and the last Christmas as a family of 3 before Fozzie gets here.  Here's some pictures from the past week.  

Lucy and Bailey by our tree we cut down.  

  

A couple of family shots with Bailey dog by the tree.

 

 Lucy's new Christmas jammies that she always gets to open on Christmas Eve.  She immediately stripped down and put them on, so we took a bath the next day.

 Getting carrots and cookies ready for Santa and the reindeer!

 We set out our stuff for Santa on the porch this year.  Lucy was very intrigued with Santa this year, but also terrified of him.  So we thought leaving something on the porch was easier to explain then someone coming down our chimney...and less creepy.

 Christmas morning!  Santa left a present for Lucy on the porch while Mommy and Daddy gave her the rest from us inside.

 Santa's gift was extra loved--an Elsa ornament!

 Lucy and Daddy made me a very special ornament too--one of Bailey's paw print. 

 Lucy picked out a scarf (her latest obsession) and candy cane boxers for Bryan.  She was so excited to have him open it!

 Lucy got lots of Frozen puzzles and we've put together one each day.

 Birthday girl enjoying the day and her new squeaky moose that Lucy gave her.

 One of her favorite gifts--sparkly paints.  "Just what I wanted!"  She got tons of art supplies and we tested almost all of them out throughout the day.

 Bryan got an ornament from me (and Fozzie).  Yes, that's a talking, light up, Fozzie bear ornament!

 "Yay!" Lucy's favorite book--'The Book With No Pictures' got a great reaction.

 Finally, Lucy's love of scarves meant I whipped up 2 fleece scarves for her-one pink and one turquoise.  Turquoise is taking over as her favorite color (and pink and purple).  

While on break, we've been getting a lot of things checked off the list around the house.  I am in full on nesting mode and sometimes that leads to random Craigslist searches for things I think we need before the baby comes (you know, like small table and chairs for our kitchen??!?)  Regardless of the random stuff that pops into my head, we have been making progress on the nursery and it's almost finished, and washing and unpacking all the baby gear that's been in boxes.  

Lucy and I also used our time off to take some pictures of the 34 week bump (see below).  I'm especially happy we got one with Bailey and my belly since it's been a rough couple weeks with her health.  We didn't think she was going to make it until Christmas, but the past week and a half she's been acting great, keeping her food down, and being the lovable old Bailey we know.  Overall I'm thankful we've had the time off to spend together and to get things in order without the stress of work and preschool.  We've had lots more talks about what's going to happen when brother comes with Lucy, and it's about 35 more days believe it or not!  Our doctor's appointment went well today and Lucy was so excited they measured my belly with a measuring tape (she's been into measuring and using the level with Daddy lately.) Fozzie seems head down so far and everything seems on track!

Not too much longer!

The Finglands

28 weeks--3rd Trimester

I'm officially in the home stretch of the 3rd trimester!  Things are going to start going really fast with the holidays, so he will be here before we know it.  We are excited that we got one big thing off the list--the nursery paint job!  

Whole room painted first


Mountain Layer 1

Mountain Layer 2

Layer 3

And now Fozzie has a crib with a view! (and someone to keep his bed warm until he gets here)

Lucy loved helping us with everything, but also playing in "the fort" aka the crib sides with an ottoman and step ladder in it.  She eventually helped Daddy get the crib put back together, and even wanted to learn how to paint a tree so I showed her for a quick minute.  

Bailey was a good observer:

We are so excited to have the paint job finally completed!  I especially am since it was getting harder and harder to get up off the floor after each mountain layer.  Now we have a couple more projects in here and it will finally be ready to go.  Here's one last shot of the 28 week belly and Lucy's fox lovey and blanket (under the sign) that she picked out for her brother.  She's so excited at how soft they are because she wanted something "warm and cozy" for him.  

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
The Finglands

Weeks 24-27

Whoops...I kind of forgot about updating this the past couple weeks!  We've had a great fall and Halloween, with trips to the pumpkin patch, Boo at the Zoo, hiking, and more.  This past month went by so quickly, and I can't believe in 3 months we will be meeting our new little guy!  We've been washing onesies and blankets, getting the nursery paint job almost completed, trying to get stuff done around the house, and trying to have some fun along the way too with Lucy.  I go to the doctor this Friday for my last appointment in my 2nd trimester--3rd trimester here we come!

During all of this change and preparation, we were also dealt some pretty unfortunate news about our Bailey dog.  Bail was diagnosed with lymphoma last week, and we are looking into some options of what to do in order to make the best decision for her.  As of now, she seems to be feeling great (we thought she just had gas and took her in for that--turns out it was swollen lymph nodes instead) so we are enjoying every moment of that and have her on an anti inflammatory to help reduce any pain and lymph node size.  On this medicine the vet said the average prognosis is 1-3 months.  It still doesn't seem real, and we are looking into if chemo would be an option or even gain us more time, or dive her a better quality of life.  We'll keep you posted, but thanks already for the prayers and good vibes our way, especially for Lucy as she is so attached to her.  She is so much a part of our family and life without her seems unimaginable.  

We hope you are doing well and are looking forward to seeing some of you in St. Louis over Thanksgiving!
Love,
The Finglands

  Here's some pictures of what we've been up to these days...

Pumpkin Patch in Littleton...week 24 bump

Lucy picked out the largest pumpkin ever this year...


Flew home for a quick weekend to celebrate Melissa and Scott's wedding.


Did a 5k with some friends-Blacklight 5k.  Thankfully Betsy is pregnant too so we waddled together.  My body did not like me the week after this!


Super Lucy at Boo at the Zoo...



Decorating pumpkins


Super dog and Super Lucy ready to trick or treat!

Week 26 Bump on our date to the Botanical Gardens Chihuly exhibit.

Beginning prep on the nursery...main color painted and mural is now in progress!  More pictures soon!

23 Weeks

Fozzie* Update:
*Bryan was coming up with ridiculous boys' names the night before our ultrasound because he was so sure it wasn't a boy.  Fozzie was inspired by Lucy's muppet bandaid and is now the boy's cool nickname until he joins us and we give him a real name.

-At our gender ultrasound, we were truly surprised and so excited to find out we're having a little boy.  He was very uncooperative in getting profile pictures and kept moving around.  He is measuring 2 days early and is in the 51st percentile in growth.  He was only 12oz a that time and everything looked great! Here are a couple pictures from his 20 week visit: 

Getting ready to find out he's a he!
 
Profile with a nose that looks just like Lucy's did in her ultrasound photos!
I'm a boy!
Our first boy purchase picked with Lucy's help right after the doctor's appointment.

-I'm feeling him kick all throughout the day now.  He's a mover and a flipper!  Bryan finally felt a little bit of movement but it's still fairly weak feeling from the outside.  At about 23 weeks, he is the size of a grapefruit and around 11 or 12 inches long now (depending on who's family he's going to take after of course.)

Lucy Update:
-Lucy's been settling in at preschool even more and we couldn't be happier.  She's learning so much and has been telling us about:  cutting/pin punching, magnetic and non magnetic, letter sounds, continents, east and west, and her math beads.  She's absorbing so much and after having our first Parent-Teacher conference she confirmed what we've known all along--we have one smart girl!   Ms. Robin told us she's doing work that she usually doesn't get out for the 3 year olds, and that she is making sure she finds lessons that keep Lucy challenged. It's so fascinating watching her learn and grow these days.
   First School PhotoLucy's world maps she pin punched, cut out, and arranged by herself!

-Lucy got to be a flower girl in Aunt Blair's wedding at the end of September.  She did a great job even if she got a little cold feet right before her big debut.  We all had a blast celebrating Blair and Anthony, and Lucy felt right at home following (now) Uncle Anthony and Aunt Blair around the whole night trying to play with them (thanks Anthony and Blair for paying special attention to her even though you had a lot to do that night!).



Happy fall!  
The Finglands