Baby #2 at 32 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: Same, 23.5 pounds.  Almost everyone that sees me throughout the week has commented that my belly is looking bigger this week. I completely agree! I've been sewing lots of things for Luke's room and every time I look down I find threads, cloth scraps, or a web of hot glue gun string hanging from my belly. 

Cravings and Cooking: Brendon's been grilling a lot lately and made me this delicious cedar plank tilapia. I still haven't convinced him to eat fish with me, but Owen ate it!  ~Thank you, Dinosaur Train! That's a show we let him watch on PBS about a family of pterandons and all their dinosaur friends.  They are always talking about eating fish and he was perfectly happy eating his fish for dinner as long as we pretend that he's a pterandon!  

My blood sugar numbers are almost always good. I've found that I can't eat things like sub bread or most type of sweets.  I still crave them... I've started a running list of things to eat after the baby is born!

The other night, Brendon and I were watching an episode of Man Vs. Food, which normally makes me want to eat a salad, but this time I found myself in tears as I watched him eat a giant sandwich and milkshake. Tears.Real.tears! I couldn't even believe it~ 

Nursery Update: I made a BOX--- 4 boxes actually and they are all the same size, perfectly level and fit inside the changing table! I wouldn't say that making a box is that hard, but I combined two different online tutorials plus added in my own level of difficulty by adding a decorative trim to the top and creating a new way of finishing the inside of the box. I'm going to write a post all about it, so that next time I want to make these boxes I'll have all my measurements and step by step instructions written down in one place, along with pictures of the process. 

Next up in the room, I'll be covering canvases with fabric and hanging them above the changing table. I went to Michael's today and spent nearly an hour trying to find the right arrangement of sizes and shapes. I'm still not sure exactly how it will turn out. I bought several different canvas frames and decided to work on the project at home.  I was beginning to feel like a Michael's employee after 2 different ladies asked me questions about the store and where they could find things!

Naming the Baby: Luke Christopher Herbeck

This week Brendon and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! 

He gave me a printer. 

I gave him the baby's middle name. 

After Brendon installed my printer, I put it to good use and printed off a contract that I'd made. It's just a silly piece of paper, but I knew Brendon would love it and it would mean so much to him. He really-really wanted the baby's middle name to be Christopher.  The name I was rooting for, Chandler, had no sentimental value or meaning ...other than the fact that I love FRIENDS... so I'll save it for the next baby when I get to choose! :O)

I hid the frame in the house and told him to go looking for his present. Owen loved playing hide and seek for gifts! 

Brendon couldn't wait to sign on the line! I love the look on his face as he read it. :O) 

Big Brother News: Owen and Daddy have been spending lots of time coming up with new, fun, indoor games (hello 100 degree temps!)

They used the baby's nursery rocking chair box to create a time tunnel for the trains to drive in. Tomorrow is trash day and the time tunnel will be leaving the house --- we'll see how well that goes over with Owen.

Here they are all snuggled in a blanket. It's 100 degrees and feels like summer outside, but inside our house winter is in full force and "Cold front Brittany" is freezing them out!  

I thought this was so adorable! I was upstairs, making the boxes for the nursery, and heard the boys laughing and squealing. When I looked over the railing, they were playing "Throw the ball" and had matching pillows behind their heads!  I'd never really considered how much fun it could be for a little guy to have a two-story house until I heard them playing and laughing as they tossed the balls up as high as possible and watched them roll down. 

Coming up later this week, I'll be going to the doctor again and this time the whole family gets to see the baby!  That's one perk to having gestational diabetes... we get lots of in-office ultrasounds now. 

Baby #2 at 31 Weeks

This week has been so much fun! We've had the best time working on projects, playing outside, and Baby#2 even has a name! 

Total Weight Gain: 23.5 pounds.   

This gestational diabetes diet is keeping me thin and I'm much less hungry this week. But, I'm not gaining weight and my clothes even feel more roomy -- which is the weirdest feeling EVER during pregnancy! I bought clothes a week before I found out about the diagnosis and even chose to go up a size larger than my regular clothes, figuring I'd soon be filling them out, but now they're slipping off. 

Doctors Visits: I met with my new doctor this week and things are looking up! The Women's Health Clinic is much easier to make appointments with, has shorter wait times when I show up to appointments, and they actually answer the phone when I call. At this appointment, I met with a midwife. She was much more knowledgeable about the Labor and Delivery side of the hospital and even had more information for me about ultrasounds and regular check up routines.  I left this appointment feeling way more confident in the hospital.

Owen's been such a trooper traveling back and forth to all my doctors appointments.  All the extra driving has really taught our little guy a lot about the rules of the road. 

Look at him, driving with hands at 10 & 2!

 He loves the horn and wants to honk at people all the time. We've had to tell him that you only honk when some makes a bad choice.  The other day he heard a car horn honking outside our house and walked out to the backyard and yelled over the fence, "Car, you need to make good choices!"  

He loves to stop for gas, but his car is much harder to fill than Mommy and Daddy's cars. 

Nursery: We've made HUGE changes to the nursery this week. 

I finished making the blackout curtains, following Midwest Magnolia's tutorial and they turned out perfectly! It really is a simple project, but the windows are big and juggling all the fabric was the trickiest party. 

There's actually baby furniture in there instead of a king size mattress and moving boxes, that we've been using as nightstands for guests -- haha.

 Owen gave Daddy instructions on how to put the crib together. 

Today, we Brendon put together the new glider chair. It ended up being such a good deal --- we got $100 off at Babies R Us!  I've loved the chair since I first saw it. It's small, comfy, and more modern looking than most gliders. After calling Babies R Us, I learned that the chair is being replaced by a new model in 2-3 months and within the entire state of Nevada there is only ONE in stock!  We drove to Babies R Us this morning to pick it up and not only got the sale price for it, but an additional 20% off!

Owen wanted me to hold him like a baby and rock him in it. 

Izzi has claimed it as his own and hasn't left the baby's room all night. 

Here's the room! It's still a work in progress but now has a crib, chair, curtains and A NAME!

Baby #2 officially has a name (well, 2 out of 3 names at least) 

He'll be Luke ______ Herbeck. 

Brendon and I can't settle on a middle name. 

Our middle name options are ... Chandler or Christopher. 

At this point, I have no idea what will be the tie breaker. 

Maybe we should put it to a vote --- which name do you like best? 

Big Brother News: Owen's been having a blast. We've gone to lots of birthday parties lately and now he can't stop talking about Charles' Construction Trucks and Aiden's Pirate Party! 

The summer-like heat is also wearing him out! We don't eat out much anymore, but decided we'd go to Cane's for lunch the other day. (I ate 2 chicken fingers and about 10 french fries with water... no sweet tea or yummy bread and it just wasn't the same.) Owen was so excited to go to "The Chicken Store" ...just like the one in Shreveport... but he fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up for almost 4 hours! We moved him from the carseat into the very loud restaurant, back to the carseat, into his bed and he woke up so confused about how he ended up in his room!  He was also very upset that he didn't get any chicken. :O(

Brendon's Nesting: Usually the pregnant woman gets all the credit for "nesting" but Brendon's doing his fair share too! Our "Harry Potter Closest" under the stairs has been a disaster since we moved in. It has a lot of space, but not much vertical storage space.  At one point we had a tall bookshelf in their holding all my decorations and holiday pieces.  The shelf blocked half the doorway and, even worse, the light switch.

Brendon took everything out of the closet, measured, cut, sanded, installed and painted shelves along the back wall and now the closet feels gigantic!

Even my stash of wreaths has a home now at the top of the closet. 

Swimming Pool Flashback

We bought this tiny pool for Owen after his first birthday and he's still playing with it. Here's a few pictures of him over the past 3 summers. I can't even believe how much he's changed! 

2011

2012

2013