Parenthood

Wahoo!  The little guy we have been waiting and waiting (and waiting) for has finally arrived!  Dax Philip Schulz was born at 3:54 PM on January 29.  He was 7lbs 14 oz, 20 1/2 inches long, and with a 14 3/4 inch head FULL of hair!

We may be a little biased, but we think he is pretty perfect.  We're not wrong though, are we?

Dax - 1 day old

I'll spare everyone the details about labor, but the important part is we all survived and everyone came out the other side happy and healthy.  Since the moment we found out I was pregnant I have been falling more and more in love with our little peanut.  At least I thought I loved him.  However, the first time snuggling him to my chest I realized that I had no clue what love was before that moment.  So many parents had told us that we would love him more than we ever knew was possible and I think that was even an underestimate of the truth - it is indescribable. 

We are trying to enjoy and soak up every moment with little Dax.  3 days and 150+ pictures in, we are completely enamored with every sweet little face, strange little noise, and are surviving and laughing through all of the fussing and dirty diapers (who knew little boys liked to pee on mommy and daddy every time their diaper was opened?!).  It is pure heaven.

Take a peek at some of our favorite moments with Dax thus far...

Snuggling right after birth

Our New Family

First bath

Ready to take our little man home!

Foreshadowing?

Well, baby is overdue :( 

Throughout this pregnancy I have continuously been thankful for the amazing experience I have had.  I have very few complaints and was lucky to dodge many of the typical discomforts that haunt many pregnant women.  The past couple of weeks, I have become much less comfortable and by the end of a day of teaching I am thinking, "it has to be tonight."  Jake and I have always been prompt people and, while early on in the pregnancy we predicted baby would be late, recently I have been wishfully thinking our little bundle would follow Mommy and Daddy's lead and join us no later than the due date of January 27.  No such luck.  Maybe he or she is preparing us for the much less predictable, significantly more complicated life that we are about to embark upon as parents.

For now, we're playing the waiting game.  I am slightly more dilated (yay for progress!) and we are scheduled to be induced on Friday if he or she hasn't made their appearance before then (the end is in sight!).  So even though I don't have a sweet little baby to snuggle yet, I am feeling a bit less stressed about waiting and Jake and I are trying to enjoy our last moments/days as DINKs.  (Had to throw in an economics term for my honey)

39 Weeks

40 weeks

Pinterest

Awhile back I started hearing about Pinterest from all different groups of friends.  EVERYONE who was on it raved about it and insisted that it was something worthwhile.  I was skeptical and when I first started "pinning", still thought it was a little silly - would I really go back and look at anything again?

Well, now it's been about a month and I am one of the people (who I originally thought was a little crazy/obsessive) who tells everyone that they should join.  It could change your life.  Seriously. 

I like the idea of doing creative things, I like the idea of becoming a good cook and being a mom who can make yummy things every night, and I like the idea of being organized.  In all of these cases, I am not quite there - I have tons of scrapbook paper and several unfinished scrapbooking projects, Jake has been the cook in our family since we got married (besides a very occasional special night), and I am always on the verge of being organized, but clutter seems to haunt me.  Thanks to Pinterest, I am much closer to being the person I dream of.

On the creative front, Jake and I made some artwork for Baby Schulz's room.  It was so simple and we love how it turned out!  I also have a list of pictures that I want to take at the hospital (but we'll see if that happens once the reality of parenthood hits!).

I have also started to take over cooking a little more regularly.  So far I have made crockpot italian chicken, root beer pulled pork, bow tie skillet lasagna, taco bake, foil packed chicken, and fiesta chicken soup - ALL from Pinterest!  They were much easier than I ever imagined cooking "real" food to be and we loved them all. 

As far as becoming organized, I have not completed a lot of the tasks I have pinned from others, but have been motivated to organize the house a little bit more (maybe this is more my maternal instinct kicking in as Baby will be arriving any day now).  The one idea that I have done is reorganizing our linen closet by folding sheets inside of their pillow cases.  It looks a million times better and the sets stay together!  Brilliant! 

All in all, it is a fantastic website filled with ideas to suit anyone's needs.  Check it out.  I can almost guarantee you will also become addicted :)

When it rains, it pours...

Okay, cheesy title for the post, but I really want to share the joy of this weekend of showers!  I know I have said it many times throughout this blog, but Jake and I are truly blessed.  On Saturday, Shannon (my sister) and Annie (my cousin/bff) threw a shower for me that encompassed both family and friends.  We played Baby Schulz Scattergories, answered trivia about me as a baby, tried to recognize baby pictures of all the guests, used ribbon to predict how big around I am now and did a baby food taste test in addition to eating yummy food and opening presents.  It was so fun!

Diaper cake!

Yummy punch

Measuring the belly

Who's who?

My good friend Trish signing the "guest book", The Giving Tree

Me with my incredible hosts

 

 

 

SOO much more ready for Baby Schulz's arrival!

Then, on Sunday, Jake's stepmother and two aunts hosted another shower for the other side of the family.  It was the third incredible shower for our sweet baby.  The food was delicious and we also played some fun games - who knows Jake and Kristin best and guess the important person on your back by asking only yes or no questions.  It was a blast! 

Myrna, Bethe, Amy, and Mary

Sisters-in-law

Great-great-grandma Nora "meeting" Baby Schulz

The awesome hosts - Mia, Mary, and Cindy

 

 

 

Our sweet baby is so loved already!

We are so thankful for all of the incredible people we have in our lives!  It was a fun weekend and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to see great friends and family who we do not see nearly often enough.  Thank you to everyone who helped plan, opened their home to guests, attended the showers, and gave gifts to Baby Schulz.  We love all of you!

38 Weeks

We are within two weeks of Baby Schulz's expected arrival!  We have been counting down the weeks since May and are continuously getting more prepared, but at some point our little one is going to be saying, "Ready or not, here I come!"  Throughout the past week I have had so many comments about how it looks like I am ready to pop, or that people think baby has definitely dropped.  Then, at our 38 week appointment Dr. Princ predicted that Baby will be here within three weeks, but reiterated that there is no way to predict the actual arrival.  She said, "It could be in a couple weeks, it could be tonight.  It won't be, but it could."  Yikes!  If I wasn't sleeping well before, that thought sure didn't help.  We are thrilled about the arrival of our little peanut, but it's slightly unnerving not to really know when it will be.  Now when I wake up every couple of hours I not only do the typical trip to the bathroom and switch sides to try to find some comfort, but I also run through the to-do list in my head; finish report card grades, pack a bag for the hospital, enter reading assessment information into the district data site, wash the new clothes and blankets so they are ready for baby to use, get lesson plans ready, vacuum, etc...  Turns out nesting (both at home and at school!) is a real thing, even for this less-than-domestic mama. 

Whether or not everything is done, we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our little munchkin.  I have two showers this weekend so stay tuned for an update on those festivities!

38 weeks

First Baby Shower

I had my first baby shower yesterday!  My wonderful work family threw a beautiful shower for the other two pregnant first grade teachers and me.  We had yummy food, great conversation, good advice, and time with the newest Westwood mommies and their babies.  We also opened gifts and the generosity of my coworkers was overwhelming.  It has been hard for me not to just buy a bunch of the stuff from our registry - I like to plan ahead and waiting this long to get prepared for baby is killing me!  However, after yesterday I already feel infinitely more ready.  Thank you to everyone who planned, contributed, and attended the shower!  It was perfect. 

Me, Kristen, and Sara - the Moms-to-be

New photo of the Westwood Mommies - with our newly added pregnant friend Kelsey (due May) and the first two babies, Cara and Averi (see the "before" picture here)

Our wonderful hosts: Sue, Julia, and Marcy

Wow!  We are so blessed.

37 Weeks

I have neglected to update baby's growth the past few weeks, but all has been well in doctor visits and I have continued to feel great, though definitely uncomfortable at times.

This week's visit to Dr. Princ proved to be slightly more eventful.  After the typical question, "Is baby still moving?" I answered honestly that it seemed to have slowed down in the past couple of days.  This was not something that Jake and I were concerned about - we had assumed that as baby's space becomes more and more crowded, the little munchkin's movement would lessen.  I still felt him or her shift positions, but there was a definite change in activity.

Well, my doctor was not overly concerned, but less nonchalant about that comment.  Apparently that can be serious at this point in pregnancy because it could indicate that there is not enough fluid in the uterus or that there is an issue with blood flow for baby.  She decided to do an NST to make sure everything was still fine - as if the average new parent knows what "NST" means.  Luckily I had just finished reading a good friend's blog post and Jake had conversed with a coworker about their Fetal No Stress Tests so we weren't too freaked out by the lingo.

She strapped me up with two sensors around my belly - one to measure baby's movements and one to measure any contractions (what?!) - handed me a button to push when I felt baby move, and made me eat a snack to help wake baby up. Then we waited.  Our little champion started moving around a bit within the 20-30 minute window that they want to see and Dr. Princ assured us that all was still great.  She also pointed out the top sensor's readings - that I had had several contractions!  I guess it wasn't so crazy to monitor that along with baby's movements.  Too bad the "real" ones during labor won't be so painless. 

So, all is still well with Baby Schulz and we added a little excitement to our routine check.  I am dilated less than one centimeter (does that even count?!) so we should still have some time before meeting our sweet little babe.

Here is a snapshot of the little one's growth the past few weeks (I have definitely noticed the change now as I can no longer zip my coat and even the oh so comfy elastic maternity pants feel tight by the end of the day!):

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

37 Weeks