Another mom question

Is there anything you wish you would have done before baby came - or that you would suggest doing before the little man arrives?

Latest Dr. Appointment - 8/26

An update from the last Dr. appointment (to recap: breech baby, need c-section, yay!)... Somewhere between Monday morning and this morning, Baby James has decided to fully cooperate and he is now in the perfect launching position.

Head down, face back, (confirmed male), feet firmly marching upwards.

So, I guess that's good news! I was a LITTLE disappointed because I was really beginning to like the idea of scheduled birth: no chaotic confusion, no big messes to clean up... but I suppose a normal birth is a good thing too! And after all, I'm pretty sure God has the whole thing planned out anyway!!

Church Shower - 8/24

I had an absolute blast at our church shower Monday night! It was so much fun, and I am still totally overwhelmed with the graciousness of everyone and all the cute things mr. baby will get to wear and play with! Thank you to everyone who was there, or tried to be there!!

Here's a side shot if you want that - 36wks/3days (and ginormous!):

This is a fuzzy picture, but this is the quilt Martha Dorcas group made for baby! A little John Deere blanket! Thanks Kimmy for the fabric - totally made for a child of John!

And the pregos: LaurieAnne 4/2, Beth 12/16, Amy 9/18, April 11/11.

And yes, I really am just that short, thanks for checking!

Chelan Camping 8/22-23

36 Weeks prego - we went boat camping! These pictures are awful, but they're the only ones I took, so they'll have to work as proof that I was there! We went with our good friends Will & Devon, and thankfully, Will just finished his firefighter training, so he was prepared to deliver the baby if necessary - haha!

We actually had a really fun time! Only 2 major setbacks....

1. We thought we left to go back to the campsite with plenty of light left in the day. Not so. About halfway between Manson Bay and our boat camping spot, it seemed like any glimmer of sunlight was GONE. With the sunlight gone, the wind picked up and waves were CRAZY on the lake. Chelan is known for its fantastic assortment of sticks and logs and floating debris... Oh yes, we all know where this is going... We hit a log. The engine lost all its power and John got his "serious voice". He was afraid it had taken the motor right off and we were taking on water. Thankfully, we are all still here and my amazing husband knew exactly what to do! They managed to adjust some things and the log came out on its own. We all put on life jackets and somehow made it to the camping spot!

2. We had a great camping set-up: nice big tent, sleeping bags, air mattress, the works. I'm not sleeping great these days anyway, and it was super loud with the wind and waves next to us, so I tried sleeping with my ipod. When I rolled over around 1:30 (after not sleeping), my hip immediately hit the ground. Crap. Finally around 3am (after not sleeping), all the air was gone from the air mattress and we were on straight ground. Crap. John was incredibly nice about everything and even went to the boat to get a floatie for me to sleep on, but... it was a long, LONG night!

Overall, we had a blast and I'm so glad we went! You can't beat hanging out on a boat for 2 days - just relaxing in the sun!

It wasn't funny at the time...

A few weeks ago, we came home to this face:

And this mess:

And NOW it's funny!

35 1/2 Weeks

Wow... where have these weeks gone?! I guess I have exactly one month today until the presumptive due date for our mystery man (on a rather large, evil sounding, pipe organ: "dun dun duuunn")!

We had a Dr appt today where we got to do an ultrasound to see our little guy! He's looking quite healthy at about 6 lbs and 13" long! Ok, we really have no idea how long he is, but my guess may not be far from accurate with the Carruthers/Ronk genes!

In other news, sometime between 11:30-1 last night, baby man decided to do a loopty-loop and do the breech thing for a while! (John suggested that this indicates he's going to be the kid in first grade that decides to give himself a haircut or something the night before picture day - just because he can!) I'll have another ultrasound next week to see if he's moved back into launching position, and if he hasn't, we'll schedule a c-section or try to turn the little bugger (ouch)!

The ironic part about this is that I have said from day one if I could schedule a c-section right now, I would do it in a heartbeat... and now that it's an option, I'm kind of torn! There are definite pluses and minuses for both choices! I guess we'll wait and see what this little man does in the next week!

If you haven't heard...

We have a name!

James Ryan Carruthers

I was really hung up on choosing a name because he's not named after anyone... but neither am I, and I turned out kind of ok! So it's official! We've called him baby-man for so long now that I can't change it until he makes his grand appearance, but good to know he'll have a real name whenever he does get here!

Any moms?

In anticipation for mr. baby man's great escape (that's what I like to call birth):

Is there anything you couldn't live without in having a kid? (Besides a stash of diapers and ear plugs) ;-)

Or anything you thought you really needed, but ended up not using?

Just curious.... and thanks in advance!

Kenley June Ronk

My latest niece - and for a month and a half, the cutest baby I've ever seen!

33 Weeks

Seriously.

I really, really can't believe it! I think as these weeks progress, the bad parts get worse, but the good parts get better x2 - so it makes up for everything!

On the bad parts - I am pretty much huge. I have to laugh at myself specifically when I'm sitting down and try to reach something on the floor! Lots of fantastic heartburn pretty much every night. I'm really missing running and oddly sense a twinge of jealousy watching joggers run down the Centennial trail every morning. (Yeah, I know. If I wasn't el largo, I wouldn't even think about running!)

On the good parts - We love love love our baby! It's at the point where I don't really feel kicks anymore, I feel every little adjustment and squirm from this guy. We can feel little knees or elbows sticking out, my belly moves around like crazy on it's own (ask Jolie Hall - lol!), and if we push, he'll push back! I'm definitely hoping he sleeps more than he does now when he's born, because it feels like he's awake all the time!

We can't wait for him to get here... well, actually we can. He has no room, no furniture, no name - but I'm sure it'll come together (slightly worried and hopeful smiley face)!