33 weeks!

Today we are 33 weeks and 3 days along in the pregnancy!  That means 46 more days until I'm 40 weeks which is full term.  I can't believe baby Sophie will be here next month.  It's so surreal to say that.  Time really seems to be flying by these last few months, and of course I feel like I still have a ton to do to prepare for her arrival.

According to my wonderful iPhone app, baby is about as long as a pineapple (17 inches) and weighs in at about 4.25 pounds.  We are seeing the doctor every two weeks to listen to her heart rate and measure my belly to see if she's growing appropriately.  So far so good!  Soon we will be seeing the doctor weekly!

Last week Dan and I went to our friends house to capture a few of these special moments with a maternity photo shoot.  Our friend Kobie spent a few hours with us snapping away in a variety of different settings and poses.  Below you will find some of the awesome pictures he took.

Those booties were actually mine as a baby!

Tomorrow my friends are throwing me a baby shower!  My mom is coming into town tonight to join in the fun for the weekend.  Check back soon for pictures and an update about this weekend.

With Love
Jess, Dan, baby Sophie, and Lucy

Happy New Year!

I can't believe this is my first blog of the new year and the month is almost over!  I guess 2012 has been a busy start for the York household.  Today we are 30 weeks and 6 days pregnant, baby York is growing on schedule and she constantly lets me know she's ok by rolling around in my tummy.  I passed the glucose tolerance test which means I do NOT have gestational diabetes and my appointments with the doctor have gone from monthly to bi-weekly.  Before we know it we will be seeing the doctor once a week then baby Sophie will be here!  It's a thrilling and scary thought all at the same time.  I'm lucky to have the knowledge of the process since I work in labor and delivery, but I think I may know too much!  I only hope I can be a good patient and not drive my nurse crazy.

A week ago I was in a wintry wonderland, my hometown outside of Chicago!  On a beautiful sunny day in Orlando I was hearing stories of a snowstorm brewing in the Midwest and I couldn't have been more excited.  I was getting ready to leave for the airport but heard that my flight had been canceled due to weather.  So I spent a few more hours soaking up the sun before boarding a later flight that was still headed into the snow.  I was thrilled that IL was getting their first major snowstorm of the season, but a little nervous that I was flying into the thick of it.  I had never been afraid to fly, but the baby in my belly made me a little nervous this time around.  I was going over some ridiculous questions in my head as O'Hare airport came into view and snow was falling all around us.  "Does the pilot know how to land on a snowy tarmac?"  "Can he see the runway?"  Apparently the answers were YES and YES.  Thankfully the landing was one of the smoothest I've experienced and our pilot knew how to fly the plane! =)  The excitement set back in that I was about to spend a wonderful week with family and friends AND there was fluffy white snow covering the ground!

I went to IL for my baby shower hosted by my mom and friends Sheila and Melissa.  My parents had a full house because my two aunts and my grandmother were also there for the occasion.  We spent a few days cooking and preparing for the party.  Wow!  Can my mom and aunties cook!  The night before the party my grandma Ardis and I decorated for the shower.  We were hanging streamers in the basement when grandma said, "I really don't know what I'm supposed to do with these, it's just been too long!"  How long has it been since grandma hung streamers?  The last time she did that was when she was a sophomore in high school, decorating for a dance!  Grandma did a great job, making sure the twists were just so in the streamers, and the area looked perfect!

Yummy cake that traveled all the way from Indiana!

"Grandma" Margie, Grandma Cindy, Me, Great Grandma Ardis, Grandma Elaine

Grandma Cindy, Auntie Mel, Me, Auntie Sheila...The Hostesses!

Proud Grandpa!  Hopefully Sophie's tall like us!

My friend Sarah from Ripon College and baby Dean. Haven't seen her in years!
So great to catch up

Great Aunt Linda, Grandma Cindy, Me, Great Aunt Regina...The caterers!!

Lots of friends and family came to shower baby Sophie with many wonderful gifts, and thanks to them we have a nicely stocked library too!  My aunt Linda traveled the farthest from California, and we also had a good showing of family from Indiana as well.  I was so grateful for the gifts for the baby, but even more grateful for the time I was able to spend with family and friends that I don't get to see very much living in Orlando.

During my stay we managed to get some crafting in as well.  My mom is making a quilt for the baby and wanted some help in putting a few stitches in so that a number of people could say they had a hand in making this beautiful piece for baby.  So one night we all sat down for a good old fashioned "quilting bee".  The quilt has in it a few fabrics picked out from the store as well as a spattering of fabrics from some family members own fabric leftovers and some shirts from those that have passed.

Mom putting fabric pieces together



Quilters hard at work



Melissa and I quilting!



Mom and Aunt Linda

 As it turns out, I actually was set to depart the winter wonderland on another day expecting a snow storm!  Just my luck.  I sat on the plane waiting for them to de-ice it, texting my mom and dad that I was set and ready to leave.  Wouldn't you know they both text me something along the lines of "Have and safe flight. Miss you already."  The last line sent tears streaming down my face!  Luckily I had an empty seat next to me so my hormones and I could have it out in private.  I haven't cried on a flight in years!  Thank you pregnancy hormones for making me an emotional mess...

I made it home to a clean house and a happy dog, thanks to my husband!  Dan has been great lately, even offering foot rubs after my long days at work.  Such a small task, but that is one of the best things he's done for me lately.  Especially after working for twelve hours, they're not the most inviting pair of feet!  As Dan and I are relaxing on the couch after our hard days work, Sophie is busy rolling about in my tummy.  We enjoy watching the waves go over my stomach.  Dan thinks it's a little weird to see and feel at times.  Sometimes, so do I.  The movements are so intense sometimes it feels like I'm on a roller coaster I can't get off.  All in all, I cherish every little movement she makes and can't believe a baby is growing in my body, who someday, sooner than we know, we get to meet!

30 weeks!



Date night with Dan, my treat.  Thanks for the foot rubs honey!

 With Love
Jess, Dan, baby Sophie, and Lucy

A Wonderful Christmas Time!

My mom and dad have just left today to go home and their visit was nothing short of an awesome time!  Luckily they agreed to help Dan and I start converting our guest bedroom into a nursery for Sophie.  I had no idea how much work it would be.  We got to work the day after they got here and didn't stop until the moment they left!  The crew was lucky and got one day off, Christmas Day.  But, just ONE day =)

We started by painting the walls a beautiful lavender/grey color that turned out just as I had imagined.  I had also wanted to put up a decal that I found on-line, but was worried how it would turn out with our textured walls.  Dan to the rescue.  We took the image (sorry on-line decal dealers) and projected it on the wall to outline and paint in ourselves.  Dan and Dad spent some time getting the details just right on the image, painting with tiny brushes and the finished product is perfect!


Painting in progress: A view the color and the mural before it was finished



The finished design and Sophie's crib!

The next task for the guys was putting together the furniture.  I had a feeling it would be a daunting task for them.  The reviews I read about the dresser/changing table all complained that it took 3+ hours to put it together, I didn't share this with them before they started.  Wisely, my mom and I left the house to do some shopping while they figured the furniture out!  By the time we got home, both men were still on speaking terms (yay), they had fed themselves (yay) and we had a beautifully put together dresser (2.5 hours, beat that grumpy reviewers!).  After the dresser, they put the crib together in record time.  Both pieces are perfect!

Working on the crib.  Lucy was on quality control!

The dresser/changing table

But it doesn't stop there!  My mom and I had a few projects of our own.  We had another dresser in the guest room that was already painted white, but had been sanded down for that antique/distressed look.  The drawer pulls were also in need of a change, so I put my mom to work on that.  She repainted the dresser pure white to match the other furniture and changed out the drawer pulls.

Mom painting

New paint, new drawer pulls!

We also saved a hanging lamp by covering it up with some material to match the accents that will soon be a part of the nursery.  The existing colors and design just didn't match our design.  My mom sewed a cover to slip over it, and it turned out really well.



Before...





After!

One final project that remains a work in progress is the mobile to hang over the crib.  Again I found some inspiration on-line (sorry to the lady that sells these for $85!!).  I cut some sweet little birds and an owl out of felt and had my mom sew them up with some stuffing inside.  Now I'll just have to complete the "sticks" to hang them from and we should have some cute little birdies for Sophie to stare at as she drifts off to sleep.

Birds and owls and clouds!

Despite all this painting and sewing and putting-together of furniture, we managed to have a wonderful Christmas right in the middle of it all.  We drove to Inverness on Christmas Eve to get Grandma so she could celebrate the holiday with us.  We brought along a nice gift for her, a new flat screen TV!  The guys set it up and mom and I managed to teach Grandma how to work the new remote.  That evening, back in Orlando, we enjoyed the annual Kobe Japanese Steakhouse outting with our friends and their LARGE family.  We had three hibachi grills to ourselves and enjoyed the entertaining grill masters as they flipped shrimps into their hats and filled our bellies with delicious food.

Christmas day was wonderful, but it passed by way too fast!  We enjoyed a breakfast pizza baked up by mom and opened our stockings and presents.  Sophie even managed to snag a few presents of her own (already!?) thanks to Grandma, Grandpa and Margie!  Everyone pitched in to create an amazing lunch of steak, lobster tails, mashed potatoes, corn bake and brussel sprouts.  Of course we topped it all off with a peanut butter pie (Dan's favorite) and a chocolate pie.  We all settled on the couch in a food coma to watch "A Christmas Story" over and over and over again (thanks TBS, it is our favorite movie of the season!).

In closing, we are 27 weeks pregnant today!  I can't believe how time is flying by at this point.  Sophie kicks me and tumbles around all the time.  The other day I'm pretty sure she had the hiccups!  So sweet.

26 weeks 1 day

Dan and I on Christmas Eve.  Not Dan's usual attire, but it is entertaining to our friends...

Hope the holidays were wonderful for all!

With Love

Dan, Jess, Lucy and Sophie

Christmas goodies!

Today we are 25 weeks and 4 days pregnant!  Baby Sophie is moving all over my tummy all of the time.  It's truly a special and reassuring feeling.  People I don't know are starting to ask when I'm due and what I'm having.  It's nice to have finally gotten out of that awkward "Did she gain some weight or is she pregnant?" phase.  It's special to share that with the patients I work with, now we have something in common.  One lady asked me if it was my first, and when I replied yes she said she knew it because I was "glowing".  Thanks baby!

This week my friends and I got together for a cookie exchange.  I made two new treats that I found on the internet.  Both went over very well.  I made extra for Dan and I to take in to work and people raved.  Therefore, it's necessary to share the recipes with friends and family.

These are Oreo truffles, so yummy, so easy!  I used more white chocolate chips than the recipe called for because it went on fairly thick.  So, towards the end of the batch, there was not enough melted chocolate to fully submerge the truffles in.  I used a bag and a half.








This is called Reindeer Food.  It's a delicious and simple chex mix covered in white chocolate and crushed peppermint.  Can't mess this one up!

Enjoy the recipes.  I'll end this post with a picture of me at 25 weeks in front of our Christmas tree. 

With Love

Jess, Dan, Lucy, Baby Sophie