Brackston-Hicks & Star Trek

Well I don't know why I am surprised - since I am a Hicks-Chick it should be a prerequisite for me to get Brackston-Hicks contractions... Well I had some yesterday and it is the weirdest feeling. They did not last for longer than 20-30 sec and happened throughout the afternoon and evening. They sure did make Jude a jumpy boy!! Nothing today...

I have to recommend to EVERYONE that you go see Star Trek when it comes out. My office got tickets to see a special premiere of Star Trek on Tuesday night. Now there was no red carpet or paparazzi, but the only people at the theater that night were there to see Star Trek. It was AWESOME!! I was so impressed with what they did with the film.

I am not at all a "Treky" or even a huge Star Trek fan - although I can remember watching many shows that my parents had on - mostly what I remember is the "Next Generation". You don't have to be a fan in order to like the movie, but it does help to get all the subtle references that they make to the original. Either way - it was action packed and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time - I LOVED IT!! Go see it next week when it comes out.

Back to work...Much love to all!

Update 2 of 2 - Week 32... 55 days to go!

OK - so after this I should be caught up for the moment - now at least everyone will have some updates to read when they check my blog (sorry for those of you that have felt left out)

After the surprise party week, my sister Jess came to visit. She got here last Friday (April 24th) and left last night (April 27th)... it was SO much fun to have her here.

Friday afternoon I picked her up and we had to run back to the office for a few more work projects, she got to see my office and some of my co-workers. Then we went to eat lunch at Guido's Pizza (they have GREAT salad) and we took Adam and Steve back a pizza after their day of fishing. That evening we went with Steve and Judy to take our nephew Jack to T-ball practice - have you ever watched a group of 4 & 5 year olds try to stay focused out on a grass field?!? It was am amusing site to say the least. After practice we took Jess and the rest of the gang to our FAV Mexican restaurant, Oseguera's... and it was WONDERFUL as usual.

Saturday morning came early since we got up to do the 'Race for the Cure' and worked the Kashi booth after the race. We walked with Sarah and Jon and their two cute little one's, Amara and Dominic. After the race, Jess and I went shopping for all of the nursery decoration and started our hunt for blue fabric for curtains. We stopped at about 5 stores and got everything else BUT fabric... we finally had a woman suggest that we just use sheets, since we wanted it to match the room - GOODNESS - why didn't we think of that?!?! So a trip back over to Target and we had everything we needed. Luckily Jess did not want to sit back and watch TV all weekend (and if she did, she was a good sport about it!), because I put her to work!!

Saturday evening Jess and I went to dinner at Johnny Carino's and watched movies while Adam played poker and went to hang out with the boys. We needed some down time after our busy day

Sunday morning Adam got up and made us a delicious breakfast and we got to work finishing the nursery deco - or so we thought - we got through most of it, but had to break to go to a hospital tour. I really like the hospital and felt as comfortable as I could there. As long as I am in a private room and they have talented staff- I am good!

I guess Sunday must have been Adam's cooking day, because he cooked us dinner too! He made awesome steaks and veggies (Jess even ate her veggies - Good Girl Jess :))

Monday morning we all got up and headed over to the Dr. office for the 32 week ultra sound to make sure that my placenta had moved up enough to avoid a C-Section and to try the 4D ultrasound one last time... Good news, my placenta is plenty high enough... Not so good news, Jude is still hiding in the corner of my belly with his arms across his face... I have a few more pics, but still not as clear as we had hoped for... but I can't complain, we didn't get charged for any of the attempts (that just saved us $175 - WHEW!!) The weirdest part of this time was Jude actually had his eyes open a few times - it was slightly creepy to see him staring back at you...

Here are a few of the pics that we got from this visit:
3 weeks since last time - look at those cheeks!

Arms are still right infront of his face

And he is still hiding in the corner (he didn't get that from Mom or Dad)

I can't wait to see his little mouth in person

Here is one of the creepy one's- his eye is open and he is smiling (the Tech made the comment - why does he have his eye's open, it is dark in there!!)


Monday afternoon Jess and I stopped for our daily Smoothie (we had Orange Julius or Kennedy Coffee Smoothies every day - we had to get our fruit) Side note - we had real fruit everyday too - Adam got a juicer so our house is LOADED with every fruit you can think of - I LOVE IT!

After that we headed back to the house to finish the nursery deco - take a look at these pics. I think we did a TERRIFIC job! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way it turned out. I just kept going back to sit in the room and rock in the chair - which Jude already loves, he kicks and twists the whole time I rock.

I owe my sis a HUGE Thank you for all her help and hard work - it turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Now we just have to get the crib (hopefully this Friday!!) and it will be complete!

This is the view as you walk in the room

This is the corner where I plan to spend much time rocking my boy

I LOVE the way the curtains turned out - and the crib is going to go right in front of them

I left room on this wall for some wall art with his name on it - I might have to get Sarah's help to pull that off.

Next I have to update my weekly pic with the 31 week picture... my belly is really starting to stick out... I think I am as wide front to back as I am side to side now - and the reason I know this is because, this past week, when I went to turn sideways to let Adam pass by me, he had just as much room as before I turned... It is an odd feeling.

Still feeling GREAT - BP is still normal, weight is still being gained, and I am happy!! My husband is very happy too now that he no longer works for J&J - shock to some I know, but it feels great to have my old, happy-go-lucky husband back! He has been so helpful and productive in his first week at home. Luckily paychecks are still coming in until after Jude is born, so no need to stress about money! He is either planning to start his own business (a lifelong dream) or go back to work for another supplier - I just don't want him to make a hasty decision and get back into a bad situation like he had at J&J.

There - now I think you are all updated!

Much Love!

Update 1 of 2 - Week 31 - SUPRISE PARTY WEEK

I have so much to update since I have not done it in 2 weeks - I decided I needed to break it up into parts - This first part is going to be week 31... now let's see if I can remember back this far... during week 30, I was in Battle Creek for 3 days which is the start of the reason I did not update my blog (I had to get caught up on work) PLUS - week 31 was a VERY eventful week.

There was a SURPRISE baby shower (for me) and then a SURPRISE birthday party (for Adam)

Let's start with my 30 week photo... still feeling great and still craving Orange Julius and Root Beer Floats... Luckily I am craving fruit too - so they balance each other out right?!?





Next - My co-workers got me SOOOOO good - they had my boss schedule a lunch with me and as we walked down to the car, he mentioned that he had to say hi to someone in the restaurant on the ground floor of our building and he made me walk in with him... well as I looked into the restaurant, I saw all my co-worker pointing cameras and video cameras and staring at me - it took me about 5 secs to realize that it was a shower for me... I was SO surprised!! I felt so special!! I am going to have to think of a creative way to thank my friends for doing this... I don't know if they realize how much it meant.


I got so many cute and useful presents, most everything is a animal theme since that is the nursery... here are a few pics and the rest are on the website below.






http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=ChaMcFarlane&target=ALBUM&id=5329777863166773361&authkey=Gv1sRgCP2AxfzF2b-TrwE&feat=email

The very next day I had a SURPRISE birthday party for Adam at Copeland's... I think I got him just as good as my co-workers got me... I had his Mom call and invite us to dinner (which he just wanted his Mom to cook) and we had to convince him (Jedi mind tricks) that he wanted to go to Copeland's. Before we left he insisted that he open his present - which he thought he was getting running shoes, to further this, I wrapped his real present in a shoe box. We didn't have a Asics shoe box so I used a Kenneth Cole that he had just gotten. His reaction to the shoe box was priceless - it was one of those "More black shoes, great"... then he opened the box and saw that I got him a new gorgeous watch, his excitement level was much higher about the watch :) After the big present, we left for the restaurant and, of course, he wanted to sit in the bar, well I walked right in and the lady knew that we were suppose to go to the banquet room, so I didn't even pause, I walked him right in and everyone yelled "SURPRISE"... it was classic! He said it was one of the best times in his life... I can't believe I pulled it off - I have NEVER surprised him before, so this was a milestone!!

Unfortunately I forgot the camera, so I don't have any pictures from the night, but we sure did have a good time!

Now on to the next update!!

Much love!

30 Weeks - only 70 days left - OMG!!

WOW - this pregnancy has really flown by!! I am not ready for lil J to be here yet - I like him in my belly!!!

This past weekend was Easter and it was a very enjoyable one this year (well Easter itself was turenchal downpour - but the rest was nice).

I guess my Easter started on Thurday evening... Adam and I did our gift giving early.

Here is a pic of the basket and clothes that he got me... He even got me my diamond for the year. It is a beautiful silver necklace with a mom and a baby in the shape of a heart and a diamond in the middle of it... he is so thoughtful...

My office was closed on Friday, so I ran errands all day - things like - getting a new licence with my married name on it, and returning all the clothes I have bought online that didnt fit. I met Adam and Sarah for lunch at Olive Garden - that place is SO good! After lunch Adam and I went to see a few day cares and we put a deposit down to hold a spot for Jude at the Kids Studio. It does not have state of the art security, but they have room and it is RIGHT next to both our offices.

Saturday was a GREAT day! We did a little shopping and then headed down to Fayetteville to see Adam's tax lady - she was a very sweet woman and I'm not just saying that because she helped us get a heck of a big return check coming, but that didn't hurt the mood of the day! After our good news on the taxes, we headed over to Baum Stadium and sat in the outfield and watched the HOGS play. It was GORGEOUS out! Sunny and about 75 degrees! After all that excitement we headed over to Steve and Judy's for our weekly poker game. Adam lost and I won, so we almost broke even for the night...

Sunday was glooming from the start and I was tired... We headed over in the POURING rain to Judy's for Easter breakfast with everyone. The Easter Bunny hid eggs inside the house this year since it was so wet and yucky outside. After stuffing ourselves we hung out for a short while, but I was so tired and needed to get some housework done. We lounged around the rest of the day and I even got a nice bath in.

Here are my 29 week photos - my belly is really starting to get big now! Besides the last couple days of feeling run down, I am still feeling great! I am still craving Orange Julius and now I have added baked potatoes to my list of wants...

Oh and here are a few pics of Daisy with the neighborhood cat, Snow. Adam lets him come in and play every now and then. Daisy loves him!! - but who doesn't Daisy love?!?!

Much love.

Well he sure likes to show off his man parts...

Take 2 of the 4D ultrasound was pretty much like the 1st, our little guy still had his face right on the side of my belly. He really likes to keep his hands at his face...

The tech explained to us why the pictures we were seeing were not like that on the flyer in the lobby... the machine needs to have fluid in front of the object and the more the better. If there is no fluid, it is like trying to take a picture with a blanket over the persons head - it is not very clear.


So there was a place where there was plenty of fluid, but that happened to be around his "man parts" - I have video of it - but it is too big to put on this site... you just have to come visit me if you want to see the video!


I had a Dr Appt before the 2nd try and everything looks great! I only gained 4 lbs this month, which is normal and my BP is still nice and low.

I have moved into Dr Appt every 2 weeks now... we are nearing the finish - GOSH I can't believe it is getting so close - I'M NOT READY!!


ENJOY the PICTURES of my SON!!

Much love

The shy guy :(

OK - well hopefully this is not a sign of things to come, but our lil J did not want to have his picture taken today!

We went for our 4D ultrasound this morning and at 1st we could see half his face clearly then he turned and was hiding against my uterus and the placenta and he DID NOT want to move...unless you count the feet swinging around and toes going up to his nose. He is pretty darn flexible at this point.

Here are the 2 pics of what we got - but we have to go back on Thursday to try again...

I think he is beautiful even if we didn't get a clear picture of him... his arms look so long and he has my feet!! Nice LONG TOES!!

I could just stare at his picture all day long!! But I better go eat and keep his fed!!

Much Love

Work on the nursery...

Hopefully I can stay awake to write this post... I had a horrible night sleep and then just had a huge lunch for one of my co-workers birthdays. Needless to say, I am dragging right now.

You would think that your body would want to get as much sleep as it possibly could NOW since once the baby arrives there is no more sleep - but NOOOOO - my body has to get up and pee or toss and turn - UGH!! I would love to have a night where I sleep for a solid 8 hours... It could be worse though - I could have a rough pregnancy on top of not sleeping... I'll be thankful for what I can get!

This weekend was great - especially Saturday... the weather was SO warm, we had all the windows and doors open... I put together the baby furniture while Adam brushed the dogs and replanted plants, and all that other manly stuff :)

Sunday felt like winter was back - it was windy and gloomy and just nasty!! We cleaned the house and decided how we wanted the baby's room laid out... We are still waiting on the chair and the crib to come in, so for now, I think we have the layout the way we want. The furniture looks GREAT - the wood is so pretty and I love the style... it looks much better than in the pictures. I have added some nursery pics below...

After moving furniture and cleaning all afternoon we went to an adoption party for our friends the Dovers... they have adopted their 2nd child (and their 1st childs older sister) Kylee. She is cute 6 yr old that is FULL of spirit and spunk and just as cute as her little brother Thatch.

I got to talk to all my sisters - YES, even Anndrea - who is back from the Middle East - WOOO HOOO!! They had a Birthday/Welcome Home party for Anndi and Gabi on Sunday... I'm bummed I live so far away and had to miss... BUT Anndi is coming to visit in May with the Kids!! I cant wait to see them and take Karsten to see a BIG WOO PIG!!

All in all it was a great week 28 of pregnancy... now on to 29...

I am still feeling great, just a bit tired. Lil J is 2 1/2 lbs this week and 15 inches long... I love it when he stretched out (for now he still has plenty of room) It is so fun to press on his heels when he shoves them into the sides of my belly. I hope they are feeling that I remember forever. Adam felt something this weekend - either a butt or his head and his reponse was "Oh My... do you realize you have a HUMAN BEING growing inside you?!?!?"

As for diet and exercise... I am attempting to go to boot camp this week - didnt do so well last week, but I did go for walks with the dogs. Diet - I am on the diet that I eat whatever I want, whenever I want... Might as well enjoy it!!

I am still craving Orange Julius and I am now getting hooked on root beer floats. And of course...fruit!! I have to have it! My husband is so sweet - since my other obsession right now is the bath tub... he has been sweet enough to cut up fruit and bring it to me in the tub at the end of my bath... I am so LUCKY!!

Here is my 28 week pic...

I am also attempting to add a video of all the crazy dogs as they chase the vacuum cleaner... they hate it, but they love to chase it and bark at it... It cracks me up!!