Monday, July 30, 2007

34 weeks and growing...

Today I had my 34 week checkup. All went well. Not liking where the scale is going, but my doctor said I'm right where I should be. Does that mean she can promise me I'll be "right where I should be" once the baby is out? Sheesh.

Measuring fine, blood pressure is fine, heart rate is in the 140's (up from the low 130's in the previous appointments). I'm not dilated at all yet. Damn. I thought for sure she'd say that I was and I'd say, "Well thank God. I would assume so! I feel like this kid is coming tomorrow." Not so much. My doctor was fairly confident that the baby had flipped back to the head down position, without doing an ultrasound. The ultrasound on the 7th will confirm/deny that. She said either way, the baby still has time to flip, so she's not worried.

So, since I had my 34 week appointment, and we found the charger to the camera, I thought I'd post some pics of my belly. Only to find out that I'm not familiar enough and more importantly, not alert enough, to figure out how the hell to use the self timer and take a pic on my own. Jake's out of town until Wednesday (yes, his last trip until after the baby's born... life w/out a helper when you're this far along is HARD) and he's the one that can figure it out. So hold tight. Fatty pictures to come soon.

Well, I have to force myself to get some more work done (working from home), head to the store, and then possibly muster up the energy to pick up the house before "going to sleep" for the night. Translation = flopping around like a giant fish out of water, huffing and puffing, throwing pillows all over the place because there's NO SUCH THING AS COMFORT OR SLEEP WHEN YOU'RE 8+ MONTHS PREGNANT, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Do you think maybe I'm irritable too?

Monday, July 23, 2007

Almost August???

How can it almost be August?? Just the other day, someone said to me, "Can you believe July is almost over," and I almost corrected her and said, "You mean JUNE. JUNE is almost over." But sure enough, she was right. It's July, almost August. Where the heck does the time go??

Jake and Kau got the nursery painted on Thursday, along w/ the stairwell and wall to the basement. They did a great job and put their blood sweat and tears into it. Next, the carpet, and then it's on to just dumping everything into the nursery. Can't wait.

Hudson is in full on "pay attention to me" mode. This morning, he was sassing me, stepping on Jake while he was sleeping, bringing all Jake's clothes to me, jumping up on his hind legs so I could "see him better" - as if his loud hound dog barks aren't obvious enough. He's hilarious. Some friends and their baby are headed over tonight, so it'll be interesting to see how Hudson does, although I'm sure he'll be fine as he always is w/ babies.

Not much to report. Just nesting like crazy (Jake and I both) trying to cram it all in before the big day. Another girl at work just had her baby on Friday. She was two and a half weeks early. That just makes it all the more real that our tater tot will be here soon!

Sorry, I lied on the pics. Now one of our cameras is broken, and the other one is dead and we can't find the charger. I'm not making that up. I'll see what we can conjure up... maybe I'll have Jake draw a picture of me and scan it in. Or, you can do it yourself: draw a GIANT circle on your paper, add a head, some stubby legs and arms, and write, "April, 33+ weeks pregnant" on it.

:)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Breech Baby

Starting to slightly recover from the hectic weekend and be hit w/ the "mid week" exhaustion, all at the same time - if that's even possible. Being Jake's number one fan at the triathlon was more trying than I'd originally anticipated, but it was fun. I was so proud to have my husband be the only competitor who crossed the finish line and puke. What a champ.

Yesterday we had another ultrasound at the Aurora Women's Pavilion in West Allis. Fancy place and they do good work. We saw the baby of course, but not very well as he/she has decided to do a flip and is now in the breech position with his/her feet down and head up. To be honest, I was not totally surprised to hear this. Sunday, I was sure that the baby was doing some sort of stunt in my belly as he/she was moving and flipping so much. It was actually hurting me. I had to get up and walk around and then resorted to strapping headphones on my belly and playing Enya to put the little sucker to sleep. That worked... for a while, but I think it was too late. The flip had already occurred.

Since I'm just about 33 weeks along, there's still a few weeks for the baby to flip. Not much time though, since as he/she grows, the room runs out. And, considering the baby had almost doubled in size (from 2.5 pounds to 4.5 in just 3 weeks), we're not sure there will be a tremendous amount of room for flipping in the upcoming weeks. And yes, I did the calculations right there in the dr's office about the baby's weight and said to Jake, "If the baby continues to grow like this, we'll have a 8.5 lb / 9.0 lb baby!!" Of course, that's if I go full term. And they thought the baby was measuring small for a while. Please.

I promised some of you (Nancy) preggers pics of me... I don't intend on breaking that promise, just plan to have Jake snap the shots when he's home later and will have him post them, if that's okay. Please don't shoot.

Dishes and Hudson are calling...

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Pictures that Might be of Interest

I know that no one likes clicking on links to see pictures, but I am trying to get everyone caught up on stuff so I will post these pics through a link and from this point on April and I will do a better job of putting the pictures right in the blog.

To see pictures of interest click here

By clicking on this link you can see pictures of the food plot (The Gridiron) and pictures from our game camera on and around the Gridiron

Enjoy the Pics and please let me know if there are any problems opening or saving them.
Jake

July 14th 2007






Just Your Average Saturday

Good Morning

It is Sunday morning and I tried to sleep in, but Hudson just wasn't having it, so now I am up and starting to get productive.

Yesterday was the Triathlon. Participants were myself, my brother Jeremy, and Nate Bailey an Army buddy. I will post pictures. The course was a loop with a smallish hill. The part that really didn't dawn on me is that every time you come around you have to go up the hill making the course that seemed flat rather hilly, and the smallish hill larger with each lap. It was a great time in a demented way. After race thoughts were that we were all going to continue doing tri's and that we were all going to work on our swimming.

In the crowd yesterday were our rental units Jim Crivitz and Diane D Money. Thanks for the encouragement. Also in the crowd was the ironman himself Sweet Feet Pete with coaching and words of encouragement. Thanks for being there Pete. April and Megan.....The reason why Jeremy and I knock out one more lap, set, rep, or mile...for the girls at home.....Thank You for getting up early and being there for us.

Right after the race I had to get cleaned up and head to Child Birthing class. Actually it wasn't to bad at all. We got to do some sweet breathing and relaxation stuff. Watched a couple how to videos....not how to make a baby.......how to get the baby into the world. The only weird thing was during our relaxation time we had to put a clothes pin on our ear to make it painful while we tried to relax. I guess they are professionals they know what they are doing and if they say it helps I am on board.

After class Jeremy and I hit the Hartford Conservation Club to shoot our bows on the 3-D course. The hunt of '07 is on the horizon and with the baby on the way I think I will have one day to hunt this fall so I can't screw it up by missing. Lots of practice.....kind of like getting pregnant....

Jeremy and April and I then hit the Mineshaft for some chicken wingies and a fat cheeseburger. A couple drinks for Sherm and I in celebration and a kiddy cocktail for A-train.
We picked up a movie on the way home "Breech". Not so good. Kind of anti-climactic from what I saw, but then again my Makers Mark's and Diet Coke tasted like a nap, and I didn't see much of the middle or end of the movie.

I will put up some pictures from the Race and from recent past.

Sunday is a Day of Rest.....
but
There is no Rest for the Weary

Good Things For Good People
Jake

Friday, July 13, 2007

Grown Ups

Being a grown up is just no fun sometimes. As you can see from the severe lack of postings and broken promises (pictures), this week kicked our butts. Busy as I've ever been at work, with one thing after another going wrong. I almost felt like I was in the twilight zone some of the days. They beat me down and left me in total zombie mode at night. I don't think I'll make it past 9:00 tonight.

Tomorrow will be yet another early day... Jake has his first triathlon that he's running with his brother, and LT Bailey from the Army. Up at 5:00 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. start time. I'll be there to cheer him on, as my big preggers belly won't be partaking in the festivities. It'll be interesting to have our friend, Pete, there to cheer the guys on... you never know what you're gonna get with that guy. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up in a chicken suit with a bull horn and a paint gun, riding a scooter and yelling, "go, go, go, or i'll shoot you square in the ass with these hot pink paint balls you pansies!!" Those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about are probably chuckling slightly, thinking, "Yeah, that'd be funny, but it would never happen and I think you're kind of exaggerating, April." Those of you who know Pete know that this is not b.s. This could really happen. I'll bring my camera, in case it does.

Immediately following the triathlon tomorrow is birthing class. Not too pumped, although I'm too scared to go w/out the class. Most people tell me it's worth it, but after our breastfeeding class experience (the teacher was a feminist hippie stuck in the '60's who spoke about wildly inappropriate adventures she took w/ her husband during her breastfeeding days), I'm doubtful that we'll have a "stellar" time. I'm GRATEFUL that Jake is so willing to humor me and go with me. I know it's not because he thinks there's more we need to know, but that he's going w/me to calm my nerves. So, it'll be a long day. Ugh. Who knows, if the instructer sucks and only talks about natural birth, zen and finding your happy place, maybe we'll just bail.

Jake has made serious progress this week on the basement. He's done an AWESOME job, ALL BY HIMSELF. I'm proud of him. Sounds like this week we'll have the nursery painted if it works w/ our boy Kau. Then I can really get to work and finish getting things in place. I am approaching mental ward status as far as my panic about having this baby early and just want the nursery DONE.


I promise, pictures to come. So sorry!!

Monday, July 9, 2007

Walk it Out Suckas'



Check this video clip out. It has nothing to do w/our lives except that it's hilarious. It's a clip from the 60's... some chicks dancing a routine to who knows what song. But when this You Tube clip was made, someone dubbed, "Walk it Out" over the original music. It's hilarious, because it looks like the whole dance was choreographed to "Walk it Out," and not some other old school tune. Hilarious.

Manic Monday

Great pics of Jake's class, hugh!? The kids look so fired up! I love them! I remember the first times that I went fishing as a tater tot, and I'm sure these kids will too! The smiles on their faces show it! Even the ones who have tiny fish on their lines! Hilarious!

Another Monday to check off the list... thank God. Mondays are brutal. If it wasn't for this thing called life, I would've begged Jake to play hooky w/me today. But with him being the king of fishing and land navigation class, I know that wasn't possible. And, I'm now training a newbee at work (who's located in San Francisco which means I'm fielding calls from him all day) so I can't exactly be MIA or the pour sap will be lost, bouncing off of walls looking lost and confused. Bless his heart, he just wants to do a really good job with the projects that he's been assigned, and I think he will, but at the same time I have 49 other massively hot projects on my plate that need immediate attention so when I get calls from him where he wants to discuss his ideas on how we can change the future of our company, I have to bite my tongue and just remind myself I'll be on maternity leave in less than two months. Ahhhh!!!

Jake had drill this weekend, which is always no fun for anyone. No fun for him because drill is an unorganized debacle of chaos and nothing all rolled into one. It's all about hurry up and wait, with no end result. And for an "always on the go" person like Jake, that's worse than Chinese water torture. For Hudson and I, it's pretty much the same because the hours that we haven't filled w/ friend visits, shopping and cleaning are spent texting Jake to see when he'll be done. Which, he has no control over. Yesterday after drill he had some of his Army buddies over to visit. One of them, John, helped the day before w/dry walling, the other, Kau, will be helping w/ painting the nursery and a few other areas of the house! Bless them! I knew those Army Joes were good for somethin'... kidding boys. :) A third, Jason (my wife Jaimie's husband) also joined for the visit and the four of them together managed to somehow heave a GIANT entertainment center over our stairwell wall that leads into the basement. Two guys on one side of the wall at the top of the stairs, two guys at the bottom of the stairs, just waiting for the massive thing to come crashing down. I actually sat on the couch and closed my eyes and covered my ears. I was afraid at any moment I'd hear breaking glass, screaming, a loud smash or something worse. But they manged to get it into the basement w/ no issues. Good luck to whoever buys this house. I don't see that entertainment center coming out of the basement - ever.

We've had a slew of requests for more pics... which I'll be posting soon. I'd like to give you some before shots of the basement and nursery, maybe a few of my growing belly and a few of our #1 baby (at the moment), Hudson. However, I can't find one of our cameras right now, and I can't find the charger for the 2nd camera. What does that tell you? We have too much stuff and no where to put it. I'll probably find the charger a year from now in our freezer or something.

Happy Monday to everyone! ;)

Water and Fish

I know that April has mentioned my summer school adventures. Here are a couple links to pictures from my Fishing Class.

The Keepers

More Keepers

Enjoy
Jake

Saturday, July 7, 2007

HOOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! Too hot for mama. I hate this hot weather. I wish we had a frickin' pool. Or someone to follow me around w/ a hose and just spray me all day. I just sat in the shade at a friends house for an hour and a half and it was still too hot for me.

Had lunch with an old friend, Rachel, today and had a blast. I must say though, if you're ever thinking of hitting up the Friday's on Bluemound, think again. The staff is beyond overwhelming. I swear, we were asked if everything was okay about 239 times. I was ready to throw my iced tea (which was supposed to be raspberry lemonade but after the waitress got it wrong twice I figured I'd deal) on the next idiot in red and white stripes to stop at our table. Geeze.

Then Rachel was kind enough to wander the isles of Babies R Us with me and she did a great job of keeping me focused and helping me fill the cart. Got some great deals and we're almost complete w/ the purchases! Although the most expensive ones (furniture) are next. Rachel, you're going to be a great mama! You did a great job picking things out and getting the best deals! Thanks for a great day!

Then got to see my army wife, Jaimie. Stopped over at her brothers for a little get together for her niece's birthday. Good times. Hudson now has a new friend, Misty. Misty is Jaimie's brother's lab. SMART! She could show Hudson a few things, I think.

I'm hungry. Gotta go.

Friday, July 6, 2007


Today marks 31 weeks pregnant. 31 weeks?! That's insane! This picture was actually taken at 21 weeks, so that shows how much the baby will have grown at the next ultrasound! That means that I only have 9 weeks left until my due date. And the doctors start telling you that you can "go at any time" once you hit 36 weeks. Umm... not ready yet. Too much to do! I feel like I have so much to do that I'm not really even sure where to start. That's probably because I have a hard time visualizing what I want. I know I want the nursery to be "cute," but that's all I know. If I could just get my hands on the "cute wand," that'd be great.


Our next appointment is Tuesday. Then, another ultrasound on the 17th. It's crazy to see this little bugger getting bigger and bigger. At this point, I don't really need a picture to tell me how big the baby is getting. He/she is kicking, jabbing and flipping like there's a rave going on in my belly. If you stare at my tummy for a few minutes, it looks like an alien is in there trying to get out. Creepy.


Drill for Jake this weekend, wandering around in circles thinking about nursery stuff for April. I wish I was a movie star who had her own interior designer. Yeah, that would be great. I could just say, "I want this, this and this and I don't want that, that or that." I'll get to work on that and see what I come up with.


Signing off on another fun filled Friday night. Home alone at 9:32 and pretty much calling it a day. Whoo hoo. I know, crazy. ;)

Thursday, July 5, 2007

A dog who says Swears

Time for me to get my hands in This

Greetings everyone

I will let April continue to keep everyone up to date on the details of our lives. My job is going to be to add some flair to this sucker.

I will start with a list of words and phrases that Hudson learned yesterday....

What the f**#'n s^^* and p*** is going on

Are you f*^^'n serious for the s**$ sake

and words like that. He did repeat part of one of the phrases early this evening I thought it was good use of the word because he had just missed a gopher in the back yard by a fraction of an inch, but April is right it was not appropriate so we washed his mouth out with soap and I don't predict any more incidences.

Also as part of my post I will include a link to some pictures of my "Favorite 3"

I hope all is well with everyone's world
Jake

DORK

So, the consensus on me sending out a notice about our blog is that I'm officially a "dork." No news there. And why does a blog make me a dork? I can think of a million other reasons why you all can call me a dork, and our blog isn't really at the top of the list. But really, it doesn't bother me, so call me what you will. This is what works for us and is an excuse for me to answer the phone less and return fewer calls... ;)

Another holiday has come and gone while life flashes by around us. Jake literally spent the entire day in the basement yesterday, dry walling. He says he has taught Hudson some new words, all of which are words we hope he doesn't teach the baby. I'm proud of him. He worked his butt off down there and really got a lot done. I just wish there was something I could do. I'm sure you'll all agree that me staying out of the way is more help than I could ever provide otherwise. God knows what would happen if I picked up a power tool down there. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope things roll forward just as quickly with the nursery. Once we have it painted and the crib and other furniture set up, I'll be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Friday tomorrow is good news. Drill weekend for Jake, errand, cleaning, baby planning weekend for me.

Dork here... signing off. Jerks. ;)

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy 4th of July!!

It's the 4th of July, already?? I can't believe it. Last year at this time Jake had already been gone on deployment for eleven months, and was still four months away from being home. Jake says last year's 4th of July feels like it was years and years ago. I feel like it was yesterday. I spent the day and night with Jaimie, the one I call "my wife." Her husband Jason was deployed with Jake and we were each other's rocks through the entire deployment. I don't think one week went by over the deployment that we didn't see each other at least once. We share a special bond now that no one will ever quite fully understand but that I will be forever grateful for.

Today doesn't really seem like the 4th of July...maybe because it's rainy and gross outside. Jake's already chipping away at the basement with his helper, Hudson (who helps by walking around his feet, bringing him clothes and hiding bones in the basement). I am trying to sort through baby gifts and get motivated to write thank you notes. Theresa and Brian just sent us the moses basket we registered for. It's so cute. Hudson really wanted to check it out so I let him. I also let him walk in it, not thinking about the fact that in two moths there'll be a tiny baby in it. Jake proved that he already has a fatherly instinct by yelling, "No! Don't let him crawl in there! Then he'll think he can do that when the baby's here and he'll squish him/her!" Ooops.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Hudson's Summer School Debut

Today Hudson took his first trip to summer school. He went to Jake's Land Navigation class (6th -8th graders) to help them, well, navigate. Sounds like he did a great job. When I got to the school to pick him up (Hudson couldn't stay for fishing with the 3rd and 4th graders, as he'd likely lose an eye or an ear if he did), he was running around the field with the kids like he'd never seen a field before. He was happy as can be, even running through the mix of kids who were in some sort of gym class, maybe playing handball. I'm sure Hudson thought they were all there for him. Now he's home with me and tuckered out which is good news because mama has work to do.

Today is work from home day and cleaning day. I swear, I get tons more done at home than I do at the office. There are just too many distractions there and this way, when there are "lulls," I can do laundry, clean, etc. Nice.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, with no big plans at the Sherman house. Jake will be working like a dog in the basement to race to meet his end of July deadline. I'll probably be organizing what will soon be the nursery, hopefully not in panic mode.

Only about 9 weeks of this pregnancy left to go. That's not much time to get everything in place! Ah HURRY!!!!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Baby Shower

Well, as you'll see by the lapse in time between posts, I'm still new at this and still forget that we have set up this blog that was originally intended to share our lives w/the ones we love and don't see often enough. Bad blogger. Bad. ;)

Our baby shower was this weekend and was a great success. My Aunt Dorothy hosted it at her house in Sun Prairie with the help of my mom. They did a great job and everyone seemed to have a great time. Lots of food, fun and laughs. It was great to see old friends, even if for only a little while. We got so many wonderful gifts, I almost don't know what to do with everything. Jake was shocked to see the entire back half of the Envoy filled to the brim and yesterday he worked hard at disassembling the log bed and reassembling it downstairs in the new spare bedroom. Now, all the gifts are in the soon to be nursery staring at me blindly as if to say, "Well put us away already, would you?" I would, but we don't have the furniture yet and the nursery still needs to be painted. Once it's painted and I have the furniture picked out, I'll breathe a sigh of relief, that's for sure.

So, with all the new gifts, my big "to-do's" include shopping for any missing items, thank you notes, nursery decor, etc., all while introducing Hudson to all the new things that are coming into and going out of the house. He knows good and well that there's something brewing in the Sherman house and he's making that very clear by being very clingy with Jake and I. It's almost as if he's gone back to being a puppy all over again. He was such a good boy yesterday with all of the gifts spread everywhere though, that I gave in and gave him one of the rubber duckies he's been wanting so badly. He loves it and treats it like a new baby. Very gentle and it still has a head, so he must have some sort of paternal instinct kicking in.