Updates... sorry its been a while

Hi all,
Sorry its been so long since i posted, the past few weeks have been a total blurr!!
Here are some of the latest details for you:

Most recent baby doc visit, last Friday, 29 1/2 weeks. baby is doing great, strong heartbeat and growing at a good pace. We are now at week 30... 10 weeks and counting!! YEAH!

We have started and are almost done with our birthing classes, just one left. The classes are at the hospital so we are getting familiar with the location and the people, our instructor is one of the labor and delivery nurses which is kind of neat. The first class focused on breathing techniques and relaxation tools. It was a good class and the information seems to be helpful and aeasy to use... we'll see how much I remember when the active labor phase starts. Thats Jamie's job, to remember my breathing techniques ;)

The next class we had to watch aweful live birth videos, ughh! I am of a mind that I do not need to see what is going on down there thank you very much. I will have a chest to belly and knees view and not a bit more! It was all helpful, but TMI!

The most recent class was all about the types of available medications for the birth, and a tour of the Birthing wing. It is so beautiful in the delivery room, like a really nice hotel! Cherry wood built in cabinets, a full size couch that chages into a sleeper, in room baby care unit wth cherry wood drawers and a radient warmer a glider shower and bath. Really, really nice! We are looking forward to that part. Of course the post partem rooms are not as nice, but they still have temper pedic matresses, gliders, a full shower and vanity area. Not half bad :D

Next weeks class is all about caring for baby. Diapering, health, bathing, etc. I am most looking forward to that class. It should be a fun one! Will let you know how it goes!

Our other baby, Dodge has been to his first puppy training class last week also. He was very well behaved and we brought home a few techniques to try with him from week to week. He goes again tonight, then over to Auntie Angela's for his visit while we are in California for the holiday week. We will miss him so much, it is the first time he's been away from us since we brought him home!

I have been very busy at work planning the Holiday Party and getting everything ready for when I go on leave. The party is shaping up really nicely, and the customer gifts are chosen, the cards are here and awaiting shipping. Just a few things left to do upon my return next week.

Jamie has also been very busy at work. He had a branch meeting, a manager meeting and a presentation to do all last week. We have both been running around like crazy people!

We had our good friends over for dinner this last weekend for a pre- thanksgiving dinner. It was great! Great food, great friends and lots of laughs! I did a roast pork loin, and apple pie, and everyone brought sides, it worked out great! I of course forgot to take any pictures which I am totally bummed about, but we still had a great time!

We are off to California tomorrow to visit the family! Should be a great time! Will write again when I can. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Much love,
Alicia and Baby

Most recent Doc visits

Good Morning all!

We had our 27 week visit yesterday and baby is doing great!

2 lbs, 10 oz. and moving right along!

Here is the most recent photo. It is of the front of the face with the eyes closed and mouth is a bit open, I think end of yawn ;)

We have been having lots of big soccer kicks this week and are getting on a more regular schedule, though the time change has thrown us off quite a bit. Other than that my belly is growning a little bit every day, but fortunately not too quick!

We also had our first lamaze class last night. Learned a little about the breathing techniques, the instruction was a bit all over the place though so it was hard to really focus on the task at hand. Lots of counting tho! We learned a few stretches and relaxation techniques too, so it was interesting. Next week are the dreaded videos!!! Not sure how much Im looking forward to that part, but maybe we will learn something so keeping an open mind.
Jamie has the weekend off so we get to spend it together and Im so thrilled! It has been a while since we got two days in a row together.
Margaret, a very dear friend of ours from California, is in town through tomorrow so we are going to meet her for brunch at ZTejas! I cant wait, I have not seen her since we moved to Texas and miss her terribly! It will be so great to catch up. We used to dance together at West Valley and now im itching to get out my tap shoes ;) I wonder if baby would like that... probably not, might be too loud!!
Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be nice and relaxing. Maybe we'll take Dodge to the creek again. He just goes crazy to chase sticks in the water! Im sure that would be a blast as the weather is supposed to be super nice tomorrow afternoon, as it has been all week, but now we wont be stuck in the office.
Well more soon. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend if I dont post before then.
Much love,
Ally and Baby

Fun at the Halloween Party

Hi All,

The Halloween party at work was a great time, I won 2nd place for my costume, the food was excellent - Rudy's BBQ, not possible to miss, and lots and lots of candy. I carved a pumpkin with our office logo on it and decorated the office for the occasion, we played trivia games and all around a had a fun time getting away from the craziness of work for an hour or so.

Here is my costume so you all can see how cute a speed bump can be!

Yes I made that hat :)

Other than that we had a hectic day on Saturday, just running errands and keeping greedy trick or treaters at bay, but the cute little ones made up for it with their darling costumes and sweet faces!

Baby has been quiet some days and very active other days. Today is an active day with lots of kicks and flips! So far those are my favorite kinds of days! We will have another ultrasound on Thursday morning to see the baby and the progress we're making. We are at 27 weeks tomorrow, just one short week from our third trimester. So very excited about that! we will begin going to see the doctor every other week instead of once a month to keep an eye on things, and then at the beginning of January it will be every week until the baby is born. Its pretty amazing to think it is just 3 months left! All things are looking good so far and my numbers are staying within range throughout the day. We will post the new ultrasound picture on Thursday.

I hope to post again before then, but in case I forget, have a great week until then.

Much love, Ally and Baby

Prepping for work Halloween Party

I got the go ahead to plan a party at work for my coworkers and executives for Halloween. I spent the day on it today, off and on, looking into food, games, images and plans to make it all come together by Friday. Im pretty excited, I think it should be a lot of fun! We will have a costume contest with 3 top prizes awarded by peer votes. We are having Rudy's BBQ for lunch with the staff contributing sides and desserts. There will also be games and smaller prizes to keep things fun throughout the afternoon. I am hoping that the team gets into it and has a great time! I love planning parties and events. It is a great chance to be creative!

We had massive amounts of rain last night and through most of the day today. I had a terrible time staying asleep with how loud the rain and thunder were last night. We of course need the rain and I love it, but am super tired today after the whole thing. I really should head to bed, but wanted a chance to write a little note about my day.

Baby is kicking me a bit right now, it is really at random and quite funny. I never know when to expect it so so sometimes I get caught off guard in the middle of a sentence or something and wow there it was, a little kick or arm in the side. really pretty amazing!

I was able to get on the first set of appts for the H1N1 vaccine. It just arrived at the doctor today with first distribution on Wednesday morning. I am scheduled at 8:30am on Wednesday and when I spoke with the nurse to confirm my time today, she said they are completely booked up and once they fulfill the appts. they made for wed, they are completely out. I imagine they will order a new batch right away, but I was still pretty surprised. Jamie will need to get his done at our GP, as the ones at the OB are, on this set anyways, for preggie people only. Hopefully his will be this week also. At least I feel a bit better now knowing I have the appt scheduled especially since there have been at least 3 people in my office with confirmed cases over the past 2 weeks. They of course came through with no problems at all, but I am at a much higher risk. I guess even though I was miserable being sick with a chest cold last week, it kept me away from the worst of the outbreak at work... ah for small blessings (or maybe big in my case)

Well, keeping the eyes open and the text making sense is becoming much harder now, so Ill sign off. Until next time, have a great night!

xoxo Ally

Updates

Hi Y'all,

I just realized how long it has been since I posted last, sorry to keep you waiting on news. Things have been fun and busy the past few weeks. We had our visit

from cousin Donald, and we had a great time. Introduced him to fried mac and cheese!! It was a hit!

We had our second painting party to do the nursery, it is a bright yellow and so cheery. It really brings out the color of the wood and the drapes. I cant wait to put up the shelves and get it all set up for baby. We also finished the nursery bathroom, the blue is amazing!!! We also picked up the yellow towels to match the ducky theme and they just pop off the blue, it is great!

The Guest room is coming together, we hung up the night stand shelves and have put in the curtains. We are still yet to install the headboard and wall shelves, and move the mirror, but it will all come together over the next few weeks.

I would like to say a BIG Thank You to all the people that helped us paint over the past few weeks, y'all are the best neighbors / friends anyone could ask for and we are so blessed to have you.

Baby has been kicking a lot lately which is sooo exciting. Jamie got to feel his first real "soccer" kick as he calls it the other night. That was awesome! I have been trying to have him be able to feel the kicks for a while, but baby was just not cooperating and would stop or roll before he had a chance to. He wonders how it doesnt make me motion sick especially since they will just keep getting stronger?? ;) Only two weeks to go until the third trimester. Things are really progressing so quickly, I cant believe it. I am enjoying every minute of it and am so thrilled to be pregnant!! I cant wait to meet our little one in a few short months! I find my self often looking at these amazing Texas sunsets or lightning storms and think of how much I cant wait to share this great big world with our baby. There really is so much to see and experience and I can barely wait!

Dodge and Tess are doing great as well. Dodge is getting bigger by the minute! He is over 35 lbs now and would love it if every minute he could be on our laps!! He will forever be a little lap dog in his mind, no matter how big he gets! We are playing fetch right now with his ducky while I write, he gets so excited to fetch it all day long! He had his sunday cookie today, a greenies teeth cleaning treat that is shaped like a toothbrush, it is super cute and he loves them, and its great, it gives me a chance to clip his nails!! Now if only there was something to keep Tess distracted while I clip her nails, we'd be in business! She is being so snuggly, she would absolutely not leave Donald alone when he was here for his visit. She has really decided that she loves company and spends as much time cuddling on the couch with them as she can. She loves to snuggle up next to me too, any time I sit anywhere in the house, she comes running over and sits right next to me waiting to be pet and brushed. We got her a furrminator a few weeks ago. Anyone who knows what this is knows how amazing it is. Anyone who has not heard of it would be shocked!! it is a comb with a big handle and really tiny teeth. It pulls the undercoat and all the loose hair off her coat, it is just crazy effective. we end up with enormous balls of fur every time we brush her and she just loves it, mostly on her face, but all over too. it is too funny to see her flop over on her back with her feet in the air so we can get her tummy!! If I ever can snap a pic I will post it, but getting her to stay that way is not as easy.

Well I had better get going. We are tidy-ing up the house and getting ready to head out and about for a little while. I hope you have a great Sunday.

lots of love,

Ally and baby

New pic of Baby Lovell

We had our latest ultrasound yesterday and got a new pic of our little one. this is the baby laying on it's back with the head to the right side of the pic and the tummy along the bottom. you can see the profile of the eye area, nose, mouth and chin as well as a bit of the ear.
Baby is 1 lb. 4 oz. and the heart beat is great! There has been a lot more movement recently. and baby was very active during the ultrasounds, did not want to stay in one place for more than a few seconds. What an amazing feeling, those little kicks! I have been waiting so long to feel them and now that I do I am anxiously awaiting the next one each time. It definitely feels more real now too. I know I have seen the baby several times, heard the heart beat, etc. But feeling the baby move makes it so real and wonderful!
I got another bit of exciting news for the moment anyway... the diabetes specialist was so pleased with my numbers and my food intake, that she said I could drop down to testing every other day so long as my numbers stayed good on my testing days!! :) Yeah for my fingers!!
In other news I found the most adorable website today with all kinds of things that are the exact theme of our nursery. If anyone is still confused as to the colors or theme, this is a great place to look. A few people have asked so here are the colors again: Yellow, Brown and Green with accents of Blue Jeans and Bright Red. The website is www.smallinthesaddle.com I hope you love it as much as I do!
Well must get back to work. More to do on the guest room this weekend. will update you as I have more. Have a great afternoon.
xoxo,
Ally and Baby

Painting the rooms and a little surprise today

We finished the painting of the Guest Room over the weekend. It looks so great!

The teal is dark and rich and fabulous and I cant wait to accent it with all the pieces Im adding.

We also

started the nursery bathroom. We went with a bright cheery sky blue and the first coat looks great. We will do one more coat to finish.Then we will add bright yellow towels, and rubber duckies and it will be all set for the baby.

Today we are at 23 weeks and I felt the baby kick today!!!! It was not very strong but amidst the popping popcorn ;) there it was, just above my belly button and my tummy even moved a little. I am thrilled and cant wait to feel more!

Well Thursday is our next ultrasound appointment so we will be able to see how much the baby has grown and hopefully get another picture to share.

Until then, lots to do to get ready for Donald's visit

Have a great night,

love, Ally