37 Weeks and Nursery

Yippee! I officially made it to full term (37 weeks)! These last few months have seemed to last forever with the anxiety of going into labor early. Now, it's a new kind of anxiety...that Baby H could arrive today or it could be a few more weeks still. I guess he/she will arrive when she/he decides it's time. It sure feels like she/he wants to come out now though...it's giving me some interesting feelings that's for sure :-)

So we have the nursery somewhat put together. Still waiting on a doing a few things until we know if it's a girl or a boy...might have to add some pink if it's a girl. We figure though that either one can enjoy the ocean :-)

I've been told that gliders are a must...we'll see!

We're also prepared for taking baby out and about (even though it may be a while). I always said I'd make sure we had a baby jogger before baby arrives...I can't wait until I can start running again!!
We have been told by many parents that the bouncy seat and swing are necessities...so of course I had to get both...just in case one is preferred over the other! Here's the infamous swing!

Freedom and Nesting...

I was officially released from my solitary confinement to the couch on Friday! It's kind of bittersweet. It feels nice to not be as freaked out about going into preterm labor (although I'm not officially term until Thursday) but now that I'm so deconditioned and the baby is so low, nothing has really changed. I tried going for a walk with Tyla but made it about 10 minutes and had to sit down because Baby H thinks it wants to come out on it's own (I know it won't be that easy!). Holy moly, do I have some interesting pains...the shooting ones are my favorite though :-) I made it to the pool today to try to swim a little and made it a whopping 500 yards! Woo Hoo! For those of you not familiar with length, that was a typical warm up for me (and I'm not a swimmer). But regardless, it felt SOOOO good to swim, almost like I was human again!

With all this time I have, now that the Olympics are over, I have officially began nesting. Two of my friends were over (Megan and Christina) and noticed how many water bottles Ryan and I have accumulated over the years from various races. They brought to my attention that I might need to make room for some baby bottles here in the near future.

So I'm in the process of tossing some of the older ones. I'm also cleaning out filing cabinets that have needed it for a few years but never got around to it.

Ryan and I were reminising this weekend about last year at this time and how we had just completed the Cycle to the Sun on Maui. This is a bike race that goes from sea level to 10,000 feet in 36 miles, up the side of Mt. Haleakala. Wow, how life has changed!

We're about to embark on a new race in our lives and we're very excited!!

Tyla...the most active dog I know!!!

This will be a really quick post. I just wanted to show you just how excited Tyla gets to go for a walk in the evenings.

Seems that Tyla is not wanting to leave her mom on the couch all alone:)

Check out the new "This Day in History" link on the left hand side. Now even if we don't update every single day you will still have something to check our sight for. Pretty cool... I hope everyone is doing well.

Ryan the Photographer and Lanikai Beach

We've been wanting to get some prenatal pictures taken of me before the baby arrives and looked into a few photographers. After realizing how darn expensive it is we decided to take a few of our own pictures this weekend. We also made it down to Lanikai Beach on both Saturday and Sunday with Tyla. We're realizing what little we can do right now (actually I realized that about 9 weeks ago) because typically our weekends are full of "active" events. Our active weekend consisted of going down to the beach and playing in the water with Tyla. I think I've said this before but being in the ocean feels SOOO good right now. It takes off all the weight and pressure of my growing belly...not to mention it cools me off!

Tyla isn't so good at fetching the tennis ball but she's pretty darn good at catching the frisbee! We also took a few videos of her. I know, I know, we treat Tyla like she's our first child and soon enough these videos will be of the baby instead...we're going to try to keep her in the loop though once that happens! :-)

Here's a video of what a good little swimmer she is...

And Dad with his little girl...

Ryan and his innovative way of capturing a photo of all of us...a little coconut shell, towel and ledge are all you need to capture a family photo!

Me and the ever growing belly!

Ryan's excellent photography skills!

A Sign of Changing Times

So I am sure that some of you are familiar with a little instructional video called, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp, M.D. If not...it is a quick lesson on how to better calm your baby. In this video Dr. Karp suggests that all babies have a calming reflex, similar to any other reflex, that can be initiated by using one, some, or all of his 5 S's.

After going over the 5 S's it got me thinking about how much my life has changed. This can be seen by comparing Dr. Karp's 5 to my 5.

Dr. Karp's 5 S's
1)Swaddle
2)Side/Stomach
3)Shush
4)Swinging
5)Suck

My Old 5 S's
1)Surf
2)Swig (as in beer)
3)Sit (on the couch)
4)Swim
5)Sleep

Our 5 S's are very similar in that they all seem to trigger a calming reflex but obviously very different in many ways. I am hoping that if I provide our new little cherub it's 5 S's that I will be able to get one or two of my 5 S's therefore releasing my calm. Although I am starting to think that you can scratch all of my old 5 S's and replace it with one H that will relax and calm my nerves. That H will stand for HAPPY as in Happy Baby. I think I will be most relaxed when our little baby is HAPPY. So therefore my old 5 S's will soon be retired:)

My biggest hope and fear is being able to provide for this new little being and keep it HAPPY. I have never been good with babies so this is what keeps me up at night.. Hopefully it will come natural. Oh well only time will tell. In a couple weeks the starting gun will fire (even though it already has for Kelley) and we will be off on the longest and most important endurance event of our life. So we will see.

Olympics

So if there's one thing that's great about being essentially bound to the house is that the Olympics are on! I'm feeling pretty much like a house right now. I guess I kind of am a house for the little baby though. Almost 8 weeks of "bed rest" has started to take a toll on my psyche (is that a word?) But...I can live vicariously through these amazing athletes as they represent our awesome country! The men's 4 x 100 team was absolutely phenomenal!! Ryan and I were screaming at the TV last night (Michelle, between our two houses I bet the whole windward side heard us :-) and I was trying to contain myself so baby didn't get too excited...he/she got a taste of competition last night. The gymnastics will prove to be exciting as well, even though the women didn't have a great start...hopefully they can pull through...I guess we'll have to wait and see...

"Flipper" is definitely growing in my belly and seems to get a little irritated that there's not as much room for it's usual back flips...now I should probably start calling her/him "Kicker"...maybe he/she will be a karate kid or a good swimmer (with it's kicking ability I think she/he will be a better swimmer than me...I go backwards when I kick!) The size of the belly is taking a toll on the old back. Not having exercised for almost two months has allowed my back muscles to essentially disappear. But I think by the time I give birth I'll have really strong back muscle from holding the belly up and really strong abs from all the contractions...that's what I'm hoping for anyways :-)

Kelley Hatfield, MS, RD

YEAH!! I finally did it! I passed my national exam and can officially call myself a Registered Dietitian. It's been four years since I went back to school and after completing my Master's last summer and then a year long internship I don't ever have to pick up another book if I don't want to! (That is until I decide to get my PhD :-) But for now, it's such a relief. I wasn't sure I was going to pass the exam because when I got into the exam room I was not able to concentrate very well..."Flipper" decided it would be a good time to practice her/his acrobatics. But after some brain freeze moments I somehow pulled through. PHEW!!

Weekend Happenings and New Belly Pic...

For those of you have been asking for a new belly pic...here you go...I was procrastinating (as usual) and took a self portrait in the bathroom mirror :-)

We had quite a busy weekend...realizing the term "busy" has new criteria for me now. I've been feeling pretty lousy lately but decided that we have a lot to get done before the cherub arrives so I had to push through it this weekend. Saturday we went to pick up the changing table/dresser and a few other things we still need for the baby room at the Pearl Harbor Navy Exchange. Not realizing it, we decided to go on a Saturday the day after payday, which was not a great idea. I swear this store is the most chaotic place I've ever been with more rude people in one spot than any Wal-Mart of K-mart I've ever been in. I don't know what makes people disregard the environment around them and feel like they can block you with their cart or try to make it around an 8 month pregnant woman in a tiny aisle meanwhile talking on their cellphone with their ten screaming kids running around behind them. Maybe it was my pregnancy hormones (although that means Ryan has them too) but man were we ready to get out of there. Yikes! So I survived that excursion and was completely exhausted...so we headed home and I assumed my position on the couch. Ryan proceeded to put the dresser together with at least 200 little pieces involved why I layed and watched. Thank goodness I have a handy husband or else I think it would have taken me until the baby's tenth birthday to finish it.

Here's a picture of the finished product with Ryan "practicing" rocking the baby again :-) I think Tyla's wondering what's going on. Don't mind the messy room, we still have some setting up to do!

Sunday morning we decided to take a trip to Lanikai beach so I could flounder in the beautiful water. The beach was amazingly beautiful and we went early enough that it wasn't too crowded until it was time to leave. It feels SO good to float in the water especially when it's crystal clear and sunny! (Sorry to make you miss it here Louise...we wish you were here too! I'm going to be really jealous of you once fall hits and the beautiful leaves start changing though!)

Ryan went for a standup paddle last night and came home exhausted because it was really windy. When he got home we (or should I say Ryan) decided to cut his hair. He was trying to "grow it out" for a while but got sick of it and took the shaver to it...

Baby in My Belly!

This is soooo cool! Here's a little video of the baby moving around in my belly. It's crazy how much it moves for being in a squished yoga ball position in a fluid filled sack :-) It's not the best quality because I was filming it myself. Another good way to procrastinate from studying!