Room FINALLY Fit for Baby VK

Today was a beautiful day all around! The temps were warm but just right, and there was no wind! It made it the perfect day to tackle some house projects that have been neglected over the past month due to traveling every weekend, and was a perfect day for me to boot Jon and Grace out of the house for some fresh air and birding!! :) Neither of them minded a bit!

While they headed out, my mom came up for the day to help work on the baby room! I was getting a bit antsy and a bit overwhelmed by the work that needed done in there - mostly because I love cleanliness and wanted to REALLY clean the room before baby arrives! To be honest, I never thoroughly moved it when we moved in so I hated to think about all the dust bunnies hiding in there :)

Together, my mom and I worked hard this afternoon, cleaned from ceiling to floor and got the room arranged and decorated! I LOVE how all the pieces came together and am so excited to welcome our baby into a comfy, clean and safe space in about a month!

Now all that's left to do is get a rug, wash the clothes and bedding and bring home baby!! Check out the rest of the pics on the photo tab in the "Baby Room" album!

THANKS MOM for all your help today!!! We love you!

Travelers from afar

As I mentioned, I am playing catchup on the blog!

Early in April, we were fortunate to have Bill and Wanda come stay with us for a week during their spring breaks! We loved it!! The week, as they always do, went way too fast, and it really felt like I didn't get to see them much. However, Jon got to spend a lot of quality time with them since he took off on Monday and had Friday off for Easter!

We got their visit started by a nice trip out to the fishing lake. Though it was hot (90+ that day), we found a fairly shaded area and ended up sitting and talking for a couple of hours). Nice to be outdoors in the breeze on a Sunday afternoon!!

Monday started with a trip to Pburg where we all had lunch at a local cafe - sure beat my PB&J that was on the menu :) Later that day they headed off to one of Jon's fav birding spots in the area - Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge. They all headed to Hays later in the afternoon to have dinner at Whiskey Creek before Jon and I headed to birthing class. Little did we know that a long ride home was in store thanks to some stormy KS weather! Thankfully, Bill calmly navigated the roads as we encountered wind, pouring rain and some hail between Plainville and Stockton! Yikes - I was so relieved to get home!

Jon told me we'd be delivering at home if it was storming like that when I went in to labor!! I fully agree :)

The rest of the week was relaxing and low key. Jon cooked up some delicious food for us on the grill including Ribeye steaks paired with grilled asparagus! He is sure expanding his cooking skills!! Bill and Wanda seemed to get good rest and to have plenty of time to read, relax, complete puzzles, take drives and spend time with Jon while here! I think that Wanda even found a great scrapbooking store in Downs thanks to a tip from our awesome neighbor!

We wrapped up the week with a trip south to Rozel! We met Deb/Joel, Cody, Tyson/Kathy at Main Street Bar & Grill for some grub. Bill/Wanda have heard much about the new bar, so wanted to take a trip to see it and Dad/Donna. It was a great way to end the week - with the family!

Again, we loved having them stay with us, and felt a bit spoiled since we'd just seen them a week earlier on our trip to MI! We'll take all the family time we can get, though!! Thankfully, Baby VK gives us all reason to connect more frequently, and we'll be seeing the Oma and Opa VK in another 6-8 weeks here in KS!!

Getting Ready

We've had a whirlwind last month or so. As Tiff told you, we traveled to MI, my parents came and visited (an awesome week!), and we've been in Larned and K.C. the other weekends. We are finally going to spend a weekend at home.

We've started to step our parenting game up more as of late. We've been reading to DJ, singing to him/her, and we believe we have the final baby names picked out (Don't ask...we won't tell). Tiff is still being a trooper, and I'm doing my best to support her during this time. I'm even reading a birthing book! I honestly never thought I would be doing that.

I can't wait to meet D.J., and I can't wait for our family to get to share in the experience!

J

Celebrating Baby Njogu

This past weekend Jon and I headed to KC to celebrate James, Cait and our first niece, Baby Njogu!! We cannot wait to meet her and know she is going to be a very special, beautiful and loved little girl!! We first stopped off in McPherson where we stayed Friday night with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Brett. It was a great surprise to find them home because thought they'd already headed to KC for the weekend! It was great to catch up and just relax - plus I indulged with some homemade chicken noodle soup, compliments of Grandma! Saturday morning, they headed out early to spend some time with Jason, while Jon and I took our time and headed to Newton mid-morning. We'd hoped to stop by a baby boutique there that I'd found online. However, what we found in the storefront was a cool new bookstore that had recently taken over the space! While bummed that we'd gone out of our way to stop by there in hopes of getting a cloth diaper 101 session, we had a great time checking out some of the shops on the street! We even found a very cute baby consignment shop that sold gently used items along with super cute and cool baby gear made by moms in the area! We loved that we were able to find some great steals and cute gear for Baby Njogu there instead of a mega store in KC!

After Newton, we made our way to KC. We had a few hours to spare so Jon met a fellow birder at a beautiful park right in Overland Park close to where the shower would be! Grace and I had a very peaceful couple hours reading in the woods while Jon did his thing! It couldn't have worked out much better!

Finally it was time to meet up with the fam and head to the shower! Cait and James had a beautiful shower hosted by some friends of theirs at the Matt Ross Community Center! What a great location! As you can see by the pics on the album page, it was a great environment, relaxing andspacious! They had amazing food to snack on along with some drinks that Jon thoroughly enjoyed :) It was so fun to see so many of the people that love Cait and James and will no doubt be a big part of their baby's life! Everybody also had a great time making onsies for the baby and it was cool to see the various designs and creativity. Jon's and mine was the best of course!! Check it out :)

We sure hope they had as much fun as we did and that they felt loved and blessed throughout the evening! We cannot wait to meet that precious little girl in just a few weeks!!!

Catch UP

I feel like this title sums up my life these days! Trying to catch up on everything! But, in this case, it has to do with catching up on these last several weeks that I have not blogged! My excuse? Travel, travel, tired, more travel and even more tired :) I wouldn't trade all the trips and weariness though! We've been so blessed over the last 7.5 months of the pregnancy and have had some amazing adventures with family and friends!

So, let me think back..

I'll start with our trip to Michigan. Jon and I spent a too fast long weekend in Grand Rapids in late March. It was the end of J's spring break and it was my second annual girls weekend with Lena, Jada and Andrea! Somehow, Jon and I managed to fit in a lot of quality time with friends and family, a baby shower and a baseball draft into those 3 full days we were there! While we missed seeing some of our friends and family on this trip, we LOVED getting to see all of the amazing people that were there! Never enough time to catch up and hang out, though!

I felt so blessed and overwhelmed with love during our first baby shower hosted by Karen, Andrea, Lena, Jada and Wanda and couldn't even make it through reading a precious book given to Baby VK by Shannon without shedding a tear - I had to call in help from Rach and Alli to read it - which really only made me want to cry more! I love those girls so much, and can't believe how grown up they are in just the 8 months since we've moved to KS! Check out the pics to get a sense of our afternoon together!!

I'd love pics from those of you who have others! You can email them to me at tiffany.couchman8@gmail.com and I'll add them to our site for others to see!

40 Days & Counting

Monday marked the 6 week count down to Baby Vk's estimated arrival date! Here are a few updates from the most recent dr. visits along with some developmental milestones!

We went on Friday, April 13 for our monthly Dr. Visit -

Jon was able to come along with me again and it is always so cool for us both to hear our baby's heartbeat! Remember, last month, the heart rate was 140, down from 156 in February. At our April visit, the heart rate was 160. So, for all of you (ahem MOM) that are clinging to the old wives tale that predicts sex based on heart rate - I guess Baby VK is keeping you guessing!

I continue to measure 2 weeks ahead - this has been consistent since my 20 week check up, and I'm not doing any reading into this and putting no hopes in an early arrival :) though with my body becoming increasingly achy these days I'm sure it won't be long before I'm hoping for that!

Nothing eventful for this visit! Next appointment was scheduled for 2 weeks out (April 30), then I'll have another 2 week appointment before starting weekly ones. Appointment schedule:

April 30

May 14

May 21

May 28

June 4 - Baby Due!!

So, we'll see and boy howdy is there a lot to do before June 4!!

Developmentally:

• at 34 weeks, we're in our 3rd Trimester!
• Baby is about the size of a large cantaloupe and is long - Baby has reached the length (likely between 19-22 in) that he/she will be at birth, but is continuing to pack on the weight! Baby is probably somewhere around 5 lbs right now and will likely gain 1-3 more lbs before leaving the womb
• His/Her brain is developing rapidly during these last 3 months - so i need to be chowing down on some Maple Salmon!!
• Baby Position - while the doc hasn't told us about how the baby is positioned lately, Baby VK is definitely enjoying making him/herself at home, at least for much of the body, right under my ribs more often than not! It's so fun to see the baby rolling around and Jon is often trying to catch the baby's movements these days. It's much easier than earlier on in the pregnancy! Jon poked the baby during our birthing classes the other night though, and baby kicked ME back in the BLADDER - thankfully there were no leakages :)

Overall, I'm still feeling really great! Aside from much more frequent trips to the restroom (mostly due to how much water I consume each day along with the increasing jabs to the bladder by baby), some soreness from a weekend trip to Kansas City, and being a bit more achy than usual - I'm having a great 7th month of pregnancy!! Jon has been giving me a massage more days than not as of late and has really stepped in around the house - which has been a huge help!

We have one more birthing class in Hays (4 weeks focused on labor/delivery, 1 on infant care and 1 on breastfeeding), which we'll be glad to have done. We really loved the classes, but it makes for a long day. I get off work in Pburg at 5, pick Jon up at the house at 5:30 where he has some sort of dinner ready to go, we hop in the car and get to Hays around 6:15-6:30 with the classes going until 8:30 or 9, putting us back home in Stockton anywhere between 9:15-9:45. Whew - that sure takes it out of us!