She's HERE!!!!!!!!!

Operation Baby Landstra has come to a successful end, as has temporary name 'Spot' (much to the delight of the grandmothers). Allison Grace Landstra made her appearance on Saturday, January 19 at 1:15am. She weighed in at a healthy 7lbs 8oz and 19 inches. Mom and baby Allison are doing great.

I (this is Matt - yes my first official blog post!!!) took this week off work and have been able to spend time with our new daughter. It seems that every 5 minutes Miranda and I are learning something new and exciting. Right now I'm watching Miranda file our daughter's nails (yes already her first spa day).  I would have never thought that her nails were little talons that could scratch up her beautiful face.

We are excited to share this little bundle of joy with all of you and we greatly appreciate all the love and support we have had during the last 9 months and will continue to have going forward.

Here are some pictures of our beautiful daughter...

Allison at about 5 minutes old...

Allison and Grandma Sherry

 

Allison and Grandpa Wayne....

Allison and Great Aunt Jean

The Landstra Family

Allison going home from the hospital...

Allison and our first child Charlie...

Beautiful face...

It's my due date!

...But I'm still pregnant. Hopefully I will have a better update for you all soon!

So close...

Well we are officially less than a week away from my due date...four days away, in fact. Not that I am counting.

The last couple of weeks we've spent just trying to prepare all the last minute things before Spot decides to make her big debut. Matt has deep-cleaned both vehicles and installed the carseats. I took my car over to the local Highway Patrol station for an official carseat safety check, and Matt received an "excellent job" for his installation. I spent the week at work trying to wrap up everything I can before my leave begins. Now I'm not so sure what I'm going to work on this week if Spot decides to keep us waiting much longer. On Friday when I got home from work I kept the momentum going and decided to clean and vacuum the house. I think they call that nesting. It continued Saturday when I decided to dust every surface in the house.

I did have some "me time" Saturday...probably one of the last times I will get the chance to do that for a LONG time. I had a hair appointment, went to the mall (hey I heard walking can help induce labor) and got a pedicure. Matt and I were supposed to have a date night, but by the time I got home that afternoon, it was snowing and the roads were starting to get pretty slick. So we ordered Chinese food and had our "date night" at home.

I did get a chance to see Spot one more time through ultrasound before she decides to come meet us. And it's official, she's still a girl. She also decided to empty her bladder while on the big screen. The ultrasound estimated she was about 7lb 11 oz....though they did say there was a margin of error of about 18 oz, so really who knows how big she is. Everything looked great, so now its just a waiting game until we get to meet her in the outside world.

39 weeks 3 days

Spot at 39 weeks even. Taken Thursday, Jan. 10.

Happy 2013

Happy New Year everyone. We've officially entered January, which means there is a baby coming to the Landstra household THIS MONTH.
Last Thursday I entered my 37th week (out of hopefully 40). This means we've reached the point where if the baby decides to come out, she is considered full term and should be developed enough to greet the world with out any assistance. I've also started going to the doctor every week now.
And since little Spot could technically arrive at anytime, now is the time to start making your arrival date guesses.
If Spot takes after me, she'll be coming out late. If she takes after Matt, she'll be right on time or a little early.
So I guess we'll see what happens.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years, below are a few photos from the festivities.

Matt surprised me with an awesome new camera for Christmas. For now, Charlie is our favorite subject, but I have a feeling that will be changing once Spot arrives.

36 Weeks and 5 days on Christmas day.

The last Christmas with just the two of us.

My family came up to spend Christmas Day with us.

37 Weeks 4 days on NYE. We went to an 80s themed party, and although we didn't stay long enough to ring in the New years at the party, I WAS awake at midnight. So I call that a win.

One month left

It’s just one more month until my due date. Whoa. That’s scary. For 8 months now it has seemed like this date would never come, and now the baby could potentially come at any time (or a week or two late). And like Santa, I’m making my lists and checking them twice of all the things that need to be done before baby gets here. Luckily, Matt and I had a very productive week last week.

Last week I had my 35 week doctor’s appointment and found out Spot was head down. So let’s hope she stays that way. Everything else was good and my next appointment is set for the day after Christmas. 

We also had the chance to visit a couple of daycare centers. And doing so kind of made me feel like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first one we visited was VERY nice, but also VERY expensive. The second was the lowest price and the smallest facility, and while I’m sure it was a very nice place and ran by very nice people, it just didn’t feel right for me. But the last place we visited was JUST right. It feels nice to have that item checked off the list.

We also had a tour of the hospital where we will deliver last week. They showed us the very nice rooms and made sure we were all registered. So once it’s go time, all we have to do is show up!

On Saturday I spent the entire day organizing the baby’s room. Ever since we first started receiving baby gifts, the room has served as more of a catch all for the pile of baby items we’ve received. Now it’s clean, clothes and blankets are washed and put away, and we can walk in the room without tripping over a Bumbo seat or baby bathtub. I just need to finish (making and) putting up the decorations. That will have to wait until after Christmas though.

The room BEFORE I cleaned. I'll post photos of the after once it's all complete.

 

Speaking of Christmas, we’re excited to spend the holiday weekend with both sets of future grandparents and a few future uncles and aunts. Merry Christmas everyone!

The countdown continues

On Thursday Spot turns 35 - weeks that is. Which means the due date is only 5 weeks away. Coincidentally, as of Thursday I will also have 35 days until my due date.

This week I’ve noticed my belly has gotten bigger. It seems like it’s always a drastic change. One day I look in the mirror and then BAM! But then it will linger around the same size for a few more weeks until the next growth spurt. I’m not sure if anyone around me can tell, but I sure can

As for Spot she’s still moving and grooving right along. I’ve been having what at first I thought were spasms where she would push herself against my upper belly, but after reading up, I am now suspecting those spasms might be Braxton Hicks contractions or what are referred to as practice contractions. (Totally normal.)

Life is getting a little tougher these last few weeks. Spot’s movements are less “fluttery” and more uncomfortable. And finding a comfortable position to sleep gets more difficult with each passing night.  Even just sitting at my desk can be a challenge when Spot decides to nestle up into my rib cage. But I’m still hanging in there (and I’ve said this before, but pregnancy symptom-wise, I’ve been really lucky) and want Spot to stay in there and keep cooking for as long as she wants to – provided she doesn’t wait TOO long after her due date.

I don’t have a photo of my belly this week, but on Dec. 2 at 33 weeks we took some maternity photos with our friend and fabulous photographer Melissa McGhee. Enjoy!

45 days and counting

That’s right, 45 days (or just 6.5 weeks) until our Jan. 17 due. With Christmas coming up, and the month of December being chock full of holiday and baby plans, the realness that we are going to have an actual baby soon is starting to sink in. Until now it’s really felt more of like this event that was going to happen in the distant future, but it always seemed so far off. Now realistically, I know Spot will probably make her arrival right around 39 or 40 weeks, just like she is supposed to. Especially since (knock on wood) I’ve had a pretty easy pregnancy so far. But then I start thinking about a friend whose baby came at 36 weeks. 36 weeks! That would be Christmas! And of course in the online forum for January 2013 expectant mothers I have been reading, several have already had their babies. (Although I’m pretty sure that forum exists solely to make pregnant ladies paranoid.)

This weekend we took “All about Birth” class at the hospital. I was convinced the main purpose of the class was to traumatize us prior to actually giving birth - and there were some scary parts - but I'm actually glad we took it. It feels good to have the information on all the things that could happen before they actually do. Although, I think the 3 hour class was a little long (and they said they've cut down the time, yikes) and our teacher wasn't the most efficient with her time. But like I said, lots of good information.

We also got to take some maternity photos with the fabulous Melissa McGhee on Sunday. That was a fun process and I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Next weekend, my girlfriends in KC are hosting us another baby shower. Spot has been so blessed with a couple family showers already, but I am so excited to get to celebrate her arrival with these ladies. Since neither Matt nor I have much family in the KC area, these girls have definitely been an awesome support system close to home. We've also got my office Christmas party and our friend James is flying in from Dallas to hang out with us Sunday.

And while things are looking busy in December, they certainly weren’t any less busy in November. The last time I posted, we were getting ready to go to our first baby shower hosted by the amazing Aunt Linda and Aunt Jean at my grandma’s house in Cuba, Mo. It was awesome. They worked so hard to make everything perfect and it definitely was. The decorations were adorable and the food was amazing. And a special shout out to Aunt Linda who not only made the three kinds of cupcakes I requested, but also made a fourth kind. They were all delicious of course. (Don’t worry, I passed my glucose test.) And like I said earlier, Spot is already a very lucky little girl. We received so many wonderful gifts and are so thankful for everyone’s generosity.

Between the shower and Thanksgiving, we were able to get some downtime in November. This translated to some much-needed house cleaning time.

Before our Thanksgiving travels we took a “Newborn care class.” I’m really glad we were able to do that and we learned lots of things we probably wouldn’t have even thought about before.

On Wednesday the week of Thanksgiving we traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana for the Landstra family Thanksgiving. Yup, that was 9 hours of driving (riding for me) both ways. And even though sitting for long periods of time is even more uncomfortable now with a baby belly, the trip was definitely worth it to spend time with the entire Landstra clan. In addition to the Thanksgiving festivities, the ladies in the family also threw us another awesome baby shower – complete with a diaper cake. I can’t say it enough; this little girl is so blessed to have such an awesome and loving extended family. We are so thankful!

And I’m not going to make any promises, but I will try to post more often in the month of December.

*Disclaimer: So the reason I waited so long to post again was because I need to pull photos off my camera. But I keep forgetting to do that when I am at home. So I only have one picture for you guys this week, and it was taken the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure if it's the way I'm positioned or the shirt I'm wearing, but it's not the best "belly shot."

32 weeks (About 7 months) in this photo