Cute little things

I thought these little things might make everyone else smile because they made me smile.

Stephanie has been talking to Owen about his new baby cousin and he didn't really get it until recently.  Stephanie bought a book about a new baby and has been reading it with "Aunt Emily and Uncle Joe".  So last time I saw Owen, Stephanie asked him who was in my tummy and Owen said "baby" and then she asked "What is Baby's name?" Owen responded "Vinny!"  So now Owen knows his baby cousin is in my tummy and his name is Vinny.  Then the next day Owen went to Stephanie and said, "Baby Vinny, out!"  Sounds like he's just as ready as everyone else for him to be here. I just hope he isn't disappointed when the baby gets here and gets a different name and wonders to himself "Who is this and what happened to Vinny!" :-) 

The other great/cute thing that happened is that I noticed Joe looking at baby books online.  I really think he's looking forward to reading with his little guy.  I know he's going to be such a good dad for so many reasons but even with the books he was doing research on what the best books for babies are and then he was looking at board books and regular books.  I love him so much and I can't wait to start this new chapter of our life together.  

Funny things people do around pregnant women...

So Joe and I were out and about in Ann Arbor doing some shopping and on our way out of the mall we went into Baby Gap and found a cute outfit we both like that we think we'll bring Baby V home in.  As we're checking out the store clerk asked if we would like a gift receipt! :-)   She pretty quickly realized how ridiculous the question was and said, "Oh it's probably for your baby!" I thought what a funny question when you could take a pretty good guess that the outfit was for the baby inside of me.  My response was, "I hope he's not planning on returning any of the clothes I buy him any time soon."  So we all got a good chuckle out of the interaction but I did thing. Boy lady, take a hint by the huge belly right in front of you. :-)

34 week doctor appointmet

Surprise, surprise everything was just fine at my appointment today. It's kind of nice knowing that I'm close enough to the delivery date that I have to come in every 2 weeks but since it's been so uneventful I kind of wish I didn't have to go so frequently. I know it is what is best for the little guy. My next appointment (in 3 weeks) will be a quick ultrasound just to double check his position. Hmmm...what else? Oh right, nothing.

Decorative additions to Baby V's room

So I engaged in a little more nesting over the weekend. With only living here for a short amount of time I didn't want to spend lots of time painting walls so this was my solution and we can pretty easily take these decorations with us. Also, I couldn't have finished this project tonight without my mom, so thank you mom, you're the best! You'll also see the wonderful addition that my mom provided for the room with the blanket she made. She's so talented.

New dots all over the wall. These are wood circles we painted and attached to the wall with Velcro. There is also a V in the middle but it's a little hard to see. We're trying to figure out ways to make it stand out more. We'll add more initials when we actually decide on a name and share his name after his arrival.
Some words of inspiration for Baby V and for anyone who changes one of his diapers. There is also a dot covered picture frame on the right hand side for our first family picture to go in.
My mom made this blanket. I love it and she's so talented!

32 week appointment

I also had another doctors appointment this week.  I'm now to on the every two week appointment schedule. It won't be too much longer before the little guy is here.  Again, everything is just fine.  He's measuring just right and his heart rate is good.  

For the most part I'm feeling really good.  Of course at the end of some days my back is a little tight and my feet and hands have started to get swollen by the end of the day especially if I'm standing lots but it isn't anything I can't handle.  So no big complaints or anything.  

So I have one appointment on the 17th for 34 weeks and then I'll have a brief ultrasound at 36 weeks except I couldn't get an appointment until December 1st.  

The days and weeks are ticking down.....

Verbeke Shower

This post is a little late for a variety of reasons.  On our way home from the shower my car decided to spring a leak in a parking lot in Flint.   Then we had to rent a car to get back to Albion.  This week has also been extremely busy and had its ups and downs  but thankfully it is the weekend now. :-) 

My shower with the Verbeke side of my family was on Saturday (November 1st) in Lapeer and we had a great time.  Joe came up to Lapeer with me and he had a good time at the shower too.  We had lots of good food, good punch, good cake and good cookies.  Here are some of the pictures from the shower. 

Dobbins Family Baby Shower

Here are pictures from my baby shower with my Dobbins family members. I had a really great time. Stephanie designed the whole theme of the shower. Isn't she amazing! She's available for hire. :-)

Yummy cakes. Don't they look awesome?

These were some of the decoations. Each circle had several names for each letter of the alphabet. This is Stepahnie's way of "getting back" at me for not giving her any hints on the name. She was happy to hear that 2 out of 4 potential first and middle names were on the decorations.

Don't the tables look so nice. Mom, Caroline and Stephanie did such a great job

Enjoying good food and good conversations.

I'm so excited for Baby V to get here so he can enjoy all of his new things.

So this is a bilibo and I was trying out all the ways you could have fun with it. This was just one of the ways, obviously this was using bilibo as a hat. :-) I've never seen one of these before but now I can't wait for Baby V to use it. I'm sure you'll see many pictures in the future of Baby V playing with his bilibo. Here is their website http://www.bilibo.com/en/home/ This could very easily be one of those toys that you need one for the adults too because they keep taking the kid's toy.

Baby V received lots of books but I think the tractor books might be his favorite because he'll be able to read it will his cousin Owen who LOVES all things heavy equipment.

Dobbins Baby Shower

I just had my Dobbins family baby shower.  Stephanie, Mom and Caroline did an amazing job! I wouldn't change anything about the shower.  When Stephanie sends me pictures I'll post pictures from the shower because it was awesome.  I now have a name for Baby V's room, "Modern Baby". :-)  It was great to see so many of my family and friends.  Everyone was incredibly generous.  I couldn't have imagined the level of everyone's generosity.  Baby V received many wonderful books, clothes, toys and the always important car seat and stroller (thanks Mom and Liner).   The funny thing is that we got everything back to the house and Joe started putting things together and the first thing he pulled out of the box was not what we asked for.  I should clarify that the gift giver purchased the exactly right thing but what was in the box wasn't even close to what as suppose to be there.  The brand of the item in the box wasn't even the brand of the item suppose to be in the box.  Weird, so I can't wait to hear the store's explanation of this. :-)  Again, I'll post pictures as soon as I can.  

Turkeyville USA & other enjoyable recent events...

For those of you who don't live in Michigan might be thinking, what the f*&$ is Turkeyville USA.  It is sort of hard to describe but it is a restaurant, gift shop, farm, etc.  Obviously based on the name you would expect there to be turkeys and there are lots of turkeys around and most of the food in the restaurant is turkey based.  The reason I bring it us is because Joe and I went with Andrew, Stephanie and Owen to Turkeyville this evening to pick pumpkins. It wasn't the best pumpkin patch but Owen was really excited when he saw miniature (not toy size) trains giving rides around the farm.  Andrew and Owen enjoyed a ride around the farm and then we had some dessert (Andrew, Steph, and Owen had dinner) in their restaurant.  We did find two suitable pumpkins, nothing hugh but just Owen's size.  I think Andrew is going to have to visit a bigger pumpkin farm in order to get a pumpkin as big as he is as he has requested.  

I'm really enjoying the small things I'm able to do with my family such as this visit to the Turkey farm and the occasional impromptu dinners with my family.  Just this week Stephanie and I decided to split pizzas and we met at my parents house (mom was surprised to have us all show up with pizzas) and we sat down and ate and talked which sometimes doesn't even happen when we have a planned dinner.  I also love that Owen knows he can watch "choo-choos" on my tv, we have our little games we play, and he eagerly curls up with me to read a story.  These aren't things we were able to do living so far away but is a certain blessing of our new location.  Life is really good.  

Another uneventful doctor visit

Well I think we can change Baby V's potential name from Vinny to Steady Eddie.   Baby V is growing well (29 cm at 28 weeks) and his heart rate is good as well (130-140bpm).  I'm also doing well, my blood pressure is good and apparently I'm not anemic at all which my doctor said is surprising for a pregnant woman  Sorry there isn't anything super interesting to report. 

Baby V Room PIctures

First nesting session

Joe and I purchased baby V's crib, dresser, and additional plastic bin organizer for his room just in case he decides to be an early bird.  Luckily my mom had already purchased so we had fresh bedding to put in his new crib.  We assembled the crib Saturday night and then the dresser on Sunday.  I also put away some of the gifts baby V has already received on an extra bookshelf we had.

I'm having issues posting pictures. I'll keep working on it.  

Doctor's Appointment with New Doctor

I had my first appointment with my new doctor and I really like her. She's young but knowledgeable and seems very open and flexible. I appreciated her taking time to answer all of my questions. Everything with baby v looks and sounds good. The heart rate is between 140-150 but it was kind of funny because we think he was emitting some funny sounds (he might have his Dad's digestive system already). I have my last to monthly scheduled appointments and then they'll change to every two weeks. The baby is going to be here before we know it.

I haven't done a post in a while so I'll also give an update on his movement. When he's moving around he's really moving around. It seems like he's awake when I'm trying to go to sleep and early in the day at work. I already feel like I need to calm him down at times because he's moving so much.

Now Joe and I are trying to figure out if we're going to do a childbirth class or not and what kind if we are going to do one.

I'm officially wrong...

our little one is not a girl, it's a BOY! Actually I wouldn't say it is official yet since it isn't really official until the baby is born but the ultrasound showed distinct signs that it is a boy.  Our little guy wasn't the most cooperative during the ultrasound.  The technician was trying to get pictures of the whole spine while showing the skin and he wasn't cooperative for almost an hour and then at the very last minute he turned around and gave us a perfect picture.  So he's showing some personality already, a little stubborn but will give in at the end.  

Another successful doctor's visit

We had another successful doctor's visit today.  The baby was actually cooperative this time and let us hear it's heartbeat.  144 beats per minute; good and strong.  I'm so excited for our ultrasound visit which is scheduled for August 11th.  Leave it to us to schedule everything on the 11th (moving, closing, ultrasound, driving to MI, etc.)  

Welcome to Baby Verbeke's Blog

Certainly technology is going to be a large part of Baby Verbeke's entire lifetime so why not start him/her out before birth. :-)  My dad was always one to embrace technology and honestly I love it too.  I'm sure Joe thinks I love it too much but he's enough of a technology junky himself to survive in our techie world. Instead of using a baby photo hosting site I'm going to put pictures on this blog and also write about interesting and exciting things that the baby is up to.  Luckily we're going to be closer to both of our families and so they'll be able to see all the amazing things but for our friends in Colorado and other places in their world I hope this helps to keep us all connected.  And you never know when Joe and I might have to move again for jobs and be away from our families although I don't think we'll be as far away as we are right now (sorry Andres).  No matter what I hope this is a way for all of our friends and family to feel connect to our little one and for our little one to feel your love and support from where ever in the world you are.  Lots of love.