Baby Shower!

Today we had our first baby shower in Iowa City (okay, it was actually in North Liberty :) ), and we had a very good afternoon. It was a couples shower, so the guys got to tag along. :) Here are the girls who put on the shower, with me (the blimp :) ).



Both sets of grandparents-to-be were able to come to the shower - here they are!




We are very blessed to have a fun small group at our church, and it was very sweet of them to throw us a baby shower!

It's not easy being Chewie and Reuben...

This is a typical Saturday in our house - Chewie and Reuben are all tuckered out from playing with each other, and are taking a nap - back to back of course! And they found Aaron's sweatshirt to use as a pillow...
This morning Aaron and I got to sleep in, then have a late breakfast at Lou Henri's - our favorite breakfast spot in Iowa City. They have my second favorite pancakes ever (The very best pancakes in the world are a little gas station diner in Guttenberg, Iowa - Rausch's Petroleum. Go there!). Even Aaron got a pancake today, so you know they must be good since he doesn't really like sweet stuff in the morning!

Anyway, I've hit the big 9 month milestone - I think this last month is going to go by fast for me because I'm so preoccupied with finishing up with school! Yesterday I was walking down the hallway in the clinic and one of the Endo assistants asked me when I was due, asked me how I was feeling, then asked me if I felt like a blimp! Lol I wanted to punch her! I answered the first two questions, but when she asked the third I just kept on walking... Who asks a pregnant woman that??? Do I feel like a blimp... hmm... Well I certainly don't feel very skinny - thanks for bringing it up! :) Good thing I don't work with that woman!

Tomorrow is our baby shower in Iowa City - we are very excited for it! I'll try to post some pictures tomorow. :)

One month left!!!

Today we are officially one month from our due date! It's crazy to think about, and very very exciting! I am so ready to meet this little boy... and I'm also really ready to be done with school! As of right now I only have patients scheduled up to June 19th - I'm hoping that I won't go into labor before then! Today I started the last root canal I need to complete my requirements - this morning I had a new patient but yet again referred her to have her tooth pulled instead. Then this afternoon I wasn't scheduled for a patient, but I got paged for a patient who came in thinking they had an appointment but they didn't. Turns out I finally got to start another root canal! Hurray! :) It's one of the hardest teeth to do, but at least my patient is really young which helps. Anyways... one step closer to being done with my third year of dental school!

35 weeks...

Can you believe it??? We're getting even closer - baby Brummer could be here 2-7 weeks from now! I did a load of baby laundry tonight - all of the newborn and 0-3 stuff that we have, socks, bibs, etc. Then I packed the diaper bag, so it is all ready to go! Really, there's not a whole lot in it - he probably won't need much for the 10 minute drive home from the hospital! :) Aaron picked out his going-home outfit, so that's in there... a couple pacifiers, a receiving blanket, an extra outfit (for when he has a blow-out in the 10 minute drive home :) ), two diapers, and a sample pack of diaper wipes. I think it will be easiest to start the cloth diapers when we get home from the hospital, so I'm not packing those.
Well, I am tired already and it is only 9:20 pm... I need to go pack for Guttenberg before I go to bed! :)

34 weeks

34 weeks and I keep getting bigger and bigger! The baby's new thing is having hiccups almost every day. I was eating lunch at school the other day, and my belly would jump every few seconds - the girls thought that was pretty funny. :)
Anyway, I can't wait to be done with this school year... I did find out my schedule for my externships next year (well, one of them) and I will get to stay in the dental school for it which is a big relief. I have the first five weeks of the school year off, then I have my "externship" in the Special Care clinic in the dental school. After my senior year, I will still have to complete one more five week externship, but I won't know where that is for some time as most offices don't have their schedules set for next summer. I can't wait for my time off this summer though!!!

I'm tired!

Wow, I am tired lately. School has been extremely busy for me, and definitely more stressful as I am getting near to the end of my time in Super block. I have some concerns about finishing all of my Pros requirements in time before Baby boy comes, but I guess the worst case scenario is that he comes early and I have to deliver a few crowns/dentures after he is already here. I'd rather not have to deal with that, but it's really out of my hands! The same with my Endo requirements - I may have to finish a root canal after he's born, but again, that is out of my hands!
Still, it's stressful, and that adds to the tiredness! I think I'm coming full circle on the first trimester - I could go to bed at 8 and be perfectly happy! :) (However, first trimester I slept very soundly once I was asleep - now I wake up all the time!)

Anyway, life is busy and crazy for both Aaron and I, but I think we will make it through! We are both anxious for this little boy to get here - we are getting so close to June! Soon, soon, soon...

32 weeks!

So this is the eighth picture I made Aaron take tonight. I feel huge. He was sitting down taking the picture, so I made him stand up so he wasn't looking up at me... So he took it to the extreme and took the picture looking down! Hey, it's better than the other pictures! It's getting a little crazy to think there's only 8 weeks left (give or take a few) - I'm starting to do some more planning and getting things ready. It was fun to have my parents here this weekend, because I got to show them the baby furniture and some of the things we've already acquired for the baby. We also had a good time at the dental equipment show on Saturday - Mom and I mostly hit up the tables for free candy and stuff. :) We did hit up the mall and did some maternity clothes shopping. I have to take a professional picture at school on Tuesday, so we were on the hunt for a "professional" looking maternity top. Slim pickings, let me say! :) But ultimately Mom found a shirt that will be good - hopefully from the shoulders up no one will know that it's a maternity shirt! :) Aaron has been working a ton lately as two of his coworkers are out for medical conditions - this weekend was no exception. He isn't scheduled for a day off for the next two weeks! Poor guy! And school is keeping me busy, busy, busy! Tonight I finished my final paper for one of my Tuesday afternoon classes - next week we have finals for the other Tuesday classes. After that we will just be in the clinic for the rest of the year on Tuesday afternoons! This will be a blessing to me as it has been getting really uncomfortable sitting through four hours of lecture at a time!
Well, tonight Aaron and I are just relaxing a little before the week starts. Hope you all have a good week!

haircut and Java House...

So tonight I got my haircut - sorry, no pictures - it doesn't look much different than it was. Really it was more of a substantial trim. :) I think my hair has been growing faster since I've been pregnant. Anyway, it just so happens that there is a Java House across the street from where I get my haircut, so I "had" to get a mocha frappe... Why do I love them so much???
Anyway, I'm in a little bit of a nesting and list-making phase right now. As of today we are under two months from my due date, so I think the reality is starting to sink in that I need to be getting ready for this baby to be here! (funny, he has the hiccups right now as I'm writing this) I organized some of the baby clothes we have, took tags off, etc., although it's kind of silly that I folded them because I still need to wash them!
Well, it is ten and I need to go to bed...

31 weeks and counting...

I finished the blanket I've been crocheting - here it is! I like how it turned out. :) The other exciting thing is below:

Aaron put together the last piece of furniture for the baby's room! Here is the five drawar dresser. I really like the furniture, and I think it will be nice to have all of that storage!
It's exciting to think we are about two months out from the arrival of Baby Boy Brummer! I can't wait to meet him!

30 weeks!

Here I am today... People at church were asking me, "When are you due again?" Apparently I now look pregnant enough that no one is worried about asking me if I'm pregnant and I'm actually just fat. :) It's exciting to be at 30 weeks - Baby Boy is moving and rolling around, and almost all of his organs are functioning (just those lungs - he needs to bake a little longer to finish those up :) ). It's also crazy to think that the countdown might not be ten weeks from today, but maybe six or seven weeks. It's very possible he could come early - especially since I would prefer he came on time or a little bit late just so I can get through more of the school!
Anyway, I went to the Williamsburg outlet mall today with my mother-in-law, and we hit up Carter's and Osh Gosh B'gosh. I got a coupon to both stores awhile ago, and it expires this month, so I thought it would be fun to use it. We got some fun, comfy clothes for Baby Boy - some for this summer, some for this winter, and some for next summer. Here are some of the things we got:


Aren't these overalls super cute? They are for next summer when he is maybe toddling around. :)

I love this swimsuit outfit!!! It is completely impractical, really, because how much swimming will he do this summer. :) But the shirt is SPF 50, so my little fair-skinned boy will need less sunblock! :)

This little outfit is for this summer (hopefully :) ). I think the little athletic shorts are just so cute!

These are also for this summer - how cute will these be??? The one has a whale on the bum, and the other has a dinosaur!
I got some other onesies and pants for 6 and 9 months - I think they will be really nice for day care. Easy on, easy off!
Anyway, life is pretty crazy lately for Aaron and I - he is getting into the busy season at work, so he is working a lot more! I'm in a pretty busy time of school now too - I have a lot of requirements to get done before this baby comes! I can't wait to be done with them!

Hiccups

I haven't blogged in a little while - life has definitely been busy lately! This past weekend Aaron and I went back to Cedar Falls to celebrate Easter with my family. It was a good time to catch up with everyone - it's crazy how fast the nieces and nephews grow!
This week will be fairly busy for me school-wise - tomorrow night I have to be the lab monitor, so I will most likely be at the school until 11pm. Yuck! I only have tomorrow night and one night in May left, and then I'm done with lab monitor duty. I doubled-up in April because I figured I wouldn't want to be up that late in June! Tomorrow will be a pretty busy day for me in the clinic too, so we will see how it all goes. I will be a very tired girl at the end of the day!
Anyway, today I felt baby boy Brummer have hiccups for the first time. I was sitting in the dental school lobby waiting for Aaron to pick me up, and I felt him sort of jump every other second for about a minute. Normally when he kicks or moves around he will move a few times, then rest, then move some more, so this was different. It was exciting for me - kind of silly, I know - but I'm just getting so ready for him to be out here and not in there!
Well, hope you are all having a good week!

28 weeks

Finally in the third trimester! Some of my prego books say the third trimester starts as early as the 25th week - most agree that by 28 weeks I'm definitely in the third trimester. Crazy, isn't it? Time flies... Little baby boy Brummer probably weighs somewhere around 2-2.5 pounds and is 15 inches long now. I had my 28 week appointment on Friday, and I had my glucola test and Rhogam (sp?) shot that day. Hopefully my glucola test will have a good result, although I would understand if my blood sugar was high because I did drink a Decaf Skinny Mocha Frappe right before my appointment. I asked the barista if he could make it sugar free and he said no... At least I asked, right? :) Just about every time I go to the hospital for my appointment, I stop at the Java House for a treat - it's kind of my celebration for making it to the next milestone of this pregnancy! So why break tradition just for a glucola test??? :) I had a different nurse at this last appointment, and she lectured me about having the frappe right before the glucose test - if they cared about what I ate or drank before the test, they should tell me to fast for a couple hours! She was just plain grumpy though - I'm glad that I usually have Tuesday morning appointments because my experience with those nurses so far has only been good.
Well, I really need to tidy up the house a bit and get some laundry done. Hope you all have a good week!

Today's Crusade...

I have to say I'm not surprised by all of the reactions on Facebook to the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that will allow same-sex couples to marry. I have seen Facebook statuses ranging from "Way to go Iowa" to "So glad I moved out of Iowa" or "Disappointed in Iowa"... Hmm... I guess this post is more in response to those who are in the "So glad I moved out of Iowa" camp.
I feel like many Christians today are on a modern-day crusade when it comes to what is the law in America. Many Christians are raised believing that America is a Christian nation and our laws should mirror Christian morals. It's almost ironic that many Christians want to make it so that all of America has to live under laws that they decide are the moral authority, when the founders of America stood for freedom of religion and separation of church and state. I think the founders realized that when you try to regulate religion through the state, you create the Crusades all over again - trying to force everyone into your belief system because this is "God's will." When did it become the Christian's job to tell everyone else how they have to live?
Really, the reaction to the legalization of same-sex marriage by Christians scares me. How high and mighty are we, that we would have the audacity to cry when we don't get our way about a legal issue? Is this really a moral issue? Really? As a Christian, I do not feel threatened by the legalization of same-sex marriage by the state. Personally, I don't need the state to sanction my marriage - I know that the committment between me and my husband IS a marriage in God's eyes. That's all I need to know. Whether or not another couple's committment is a marriage in God's eyes really isn't a concern of mine.
I challenge Christians who are so out-spoken about their disapproval of legalized same-sex marriage to get out of their bubble and rethink this issue. What is it about legalizing same-sex marriage that bothers you - that someone will do something that you don't approve of? That this is one more step down a "slippery slope" toward the moral decay of America? Oh dear.
Maybe I should care more about this issue, but I am having a hard time finding a reason to be upset.

The diapers are here!!!

I'm super excited! The cloth diapers that we ordered arrived today, and they are super cute! We ordered two different types - newborn size prefolds and diaper covers, and then one-size pocket diapers (like the one in the picture). We have enough of the newborn size for doing cloth diapers full time, but we will probably have to buy more of the pocket diapers (they adjust to fit the baby as he grows so you don't have to buy multiple sizes) down the road if we want to use that type exclusively. We registered for the pocket diapers at Target, though, so we may get some more of those that way... Either way, we are covered for the first month! :) We also ordered a diaper pail, cloth diaper wipes, "bottom cleaner" spray (you spray that on and use the cloth diaper wipes instead of the disposable wipes), a few extra inserts for the pocket diapers, a large diaper tote bag for the diaper pail, a small diaper tote bag for the dirties when we are out and about, and some additive-free detergent to wash the diapers in. It was quite a full box! It's just nice to get all of the details taken care of, so we can start cloth diapers right away after Baby Boy Brummer is born.

27 weeks picture

The bump just keeps on getting bigger...

27 weeks...

and some weird, yucky weather today! I think this weekend has brought a lot of snowy/sleety weather to most of the midwest - we haven't had too much accumulate yet, but the ground is just about all white again. This is not good news for me - I can barely fit in my winter coat! I need April to stay in the 50's and 60's! Most of my non-maternity shirts are completely unwearable now - unless they are longer than normal and fairly loose and stretchy. There's another girl in my class who is pregnant and due a few weeks after I am - according to some of my classmates I am carrying our baby "low" and she is carrying "high" and therefore she must be having a girl! She and her husband have decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby - to each their own!
This past week was fairly eventful for me at school because I finished my first root canal on a patient (don't tell her it was my first root canal! :) ). I also sent out two cases to the lab - one to finalize a partial denture and the other to set up teeth for upper and lower dentures - hurray! It's exciting to be close to finished with two cases!
Anyway, it's been a really low-key day for me. I've really needed to just relax and catch my breath...
Hope you all are safe and warm!

Baby furniture is here!!!

Aaron picked up the nursery furniture, and put two of the pieces together! He put the crib together and the changer/dresser. Here they are...


Way to go honey! :)

Las Vegas!

Aaron and I went to Las Vegas with my parents this last weekend - we had a lot of fun while we were there! On Friday we all got massages at the spa - I got a prenatal massage where I got to lay on a special foam thing with a cutout for my belly. It was amazing to lay on my stomach - I haven't done that for months!!! We were outside for most of Friday, so I did get a little sunburned. Oops. :) Saturday was pretty relaxed as well - we went on a tour of the Marriott Grand Chateau on the strip in Las Vegas. We had dinner at the restaurant at our resort, and it was really good - a really good deal too! $20.09 for a three course dinner! I forgot to take my camera on the trip, so I only have this picture that I stole from my mom. :) At least you get a straight on shot of me for once! :)

Well, it's back to reality tomorrow. I had today off from school because the seniors are taking their boards - it was nice because we didn't get home until late last night! Tomorrow we have classes but no clinic, then Wednesday it's back to normal. Hurray for a short week!

BRRR!!!

The last few nights it's been such nice weather that we've been sleeping with the bedroom windows open. I guess I forgot that they were open all the time, because this morning I woke up and it was very chilly in our bedroom! I went downstairs and the thermostat said 59 degrees!! It's a good thing we have the heat turned off, otherwise it would have been running all night. :) I closed the windows, so now hopefully the morning sun will warm the house up again!
Anyway, the last few days I have been cleaning the house and organizing the guest room/soon-to-be baby room. The guest room was no small task, as we have let three years of stuff accumulate there. It's kind of the catch-all room - if I don't know what to do with it, I put it there! So I cleaned it out and got rid of all of the stuff I don't know why we were saving. It's a good feeling. :) We ordered our nursery furniture this week, so maybe by next week it will be here! I am very excited to get it all put together and up in the guest room to see how it will all look!
Tonight Aaron and I are headed to Las Vegas with my parents - we're staying at the JW Marriott resort of course :) - and we'll be there until Sunday. I think it will be a nice weekend getaway - Aaron has been working so much and I have been so busy with school it will be nice to see him for more than a couple hours each day! I am actually pretty much packed already, which is so unusual for me. :) We are packing in our carry-ons so we don't have to check any luggage, and therefore don't have to wait for baggage claim when we get to Las Vegas! (my backpack is stuffed... but it fits! :) ) Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend!

25 weeks picture... a little late :)