38 Weeks

We went for our 38 week check up today and everything looks great with our little girl. We had an ultrasound done at our 37 week appointment and she is ready to do. She was in the proper position, weighing in at about 6lbs 15oz. We will see what size she is when she gets here. Nothing had changed from our 37 weeks to 38 weeks. I am still 1cm dilated. Other than that things look good and we are just anxiously awaiting her arrival. If you haven't seen them already we posted a few pictures of her nursery on our shutterfly site, so stop by and check those out. We look forward to celebrating a new life with everyone very soon.

Almost 8 weeks in VA

It's hard to believe I have been in VA for almost 8 weeks now. Time sure is going by fast. I am really starting to get to know my way around town. There is still so much to see, but I can now get to most stores (grocery, Target, Kohl's, JCPenny, Walmart, Pet Store, Lowes, Home Depot), doctors office, hospital, vet, and Marty's work without using the GPS. We still need to get out more and see more of the sites, but we have just been trying to get things done around the house and ready for Haleigh to get here. I am hoping to have pictures to post of the nursery by the end of next week. We will see though with Christmas. Other than doing the daily things, I have been baking a lot. Marty is really enjoying coming home to all the cookies. Today he will get to come home to a roast with mashed potato's that was cooked in the crock pot all day, No Bake Cookies, and frosted Christmas cookies (Thanks Jeri for the recipe he loves them). I love seeing him happy when he gets home.
Speaking of Marty, his job is going very well. He really is enjoying the job itself and all the people he works with. He brought home a 15 pound ham that they gave him (and all employees) for the holidays. We are going to cook it for Christmas dinner. We can't wait. Other than work Marty has been busy around the house. He has put in a new dishwasher for me (It was my Christmas present. I am so excited), put up a lot of pictures around the house, put up the tree, bought, stained and is going to hang another cabinet in the kitchen, and so many other things. He is also really enjoying the nicer weather. We all are. Today was the first day Marty wore a winter coat and gloves to work. This weekend looks like it will be chilly with possible snow, but I'm not holding my breath. Next week should be back in the upper 40's to lower 50's. Be safe to everyone who is getting snow and ice.
Haleigh is doing well. We had a doctors appointment last Monday and things went well. We found a doctor we really like in the practice. He had us laughing pretty much the whole time. They took Haleigh's heartbeat and it was good. She was very active at the time. We asked the doctor if genetics plays a part in the size of the baby (we were both big babies) and he said he could tell us about how big she will be. He felt around and said he thinks she will be around 8 pounds. We shall see how close he is. When feeling around though to check her size (which I am measuring right on track right now) he noticed she had moved from when we first started going to this doctors office and not the right direction. Right now her butt is down and her head and feet are up at the top. They are doing an ultra sound at our next appointment, the week after Christmas to see if she has moved anymore. At that time they will figure out what to do if she hasn't. I guess we will see. We are excited to see her again though. We didn't think we were going to get to see another ultra sound before she was born. At the next doctors appointment I will be 37 weeks so I will start going to the doctors every week. January 20th is closing in.
Well I hope this updates everyone on how things are going and how we are all doing. Miss you all.

Rain, Rain go away come again NEVER

So this week I am getting to see first hand what a tropical storm means to the Virginia area. We are luckly in an area that isn't getting the flooding, but it has been windy and raining nonstop for a day and a half and there isn't an end in site. They are saying hopefully by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. I am hoping for sooner. Maggie and I would like to get out of the house and go for a walk or something.
This week hasn't been filled with much since it has been raining. Tuesday I was proud of myself, I drove to Target and back without using the GPS. I am slowly finding my way around. Yesterday did mark another milestone though. 30 weeks pregnant as of yesterday (Wednesday). Only 10 more weeks (give or take a week or so) and we will get to meet and hold our bundle of joy. I will finally get to see who has been kicking me like crazy and making it hard for me to sleep. In the end it is all worth it. Marty and I couldn't be more excited. We have been working on her room some this week as well. It's a slow process, but hopefully we will have it done in a few weeks.
So I realize this isn't a very long update, but like I said before not too much is happening this week. This weekend and next week should bring about more news.

Our first week in Virginia as a family

Our first week in Virginia as a family went really well. Monday morning I took Marty back to the airport to pick up his car and then he went off to work. I went back to the apartment and hung out with Maggie in the morning. I wanted to try and make her feel as comfortable as possible. I had my first OB appointment Monday afternoon. Things went well there. I really like the doctors office, but I wish it was a little closer to home. It is about a 25 minute drive from our house to the doctors. I didn't actually get to meet any of the doctors at the first appointment,but the nurse practitioner was very nice. She asked a lot of questions and then listened to Haleigh's heartbeat, which she said was very good. She also did some feeling around and said Haleigh's head was down on my left side, her stomach area on the upper left side and her legs, knees, and feet were on my right side. That would explain why most of the kicks I feel are on that side. She did also tell me I will start having appointments every two weeks. The next one is the 16th. Monday night we hung around our house and started to get some boxes unpacked. Monday night was the last night we stayed at the apartment after that we were at our house.
The rest of the week was spent unpacking and cleaning the house and trying to make it livable for us. Also during the week I went and got my H1N1 shot (which I am very happy about) and did some looking around the town. So far I know how to get to the Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Walmart, and a lot of other stores that are in the same areas as these. By the end of the week Maggie was doing much better and has become much more comfortable in the house. She is even learning that this is her house when we are out for a walk. It only took about two walks for her to learn that.
Our first weekend together went really well. Friday night we spent just hanging out as a family watching a movie. It felt really good to get back to doing something "normal". Saturday Marty mowed the lawn and we did some more unpacking and hanging of things around the house. Sunday we went to our new church which was really nice. It is much larger than the church we attended in Michigan. It is so big they have a police officer that directs traffic in and out of the parking lot before and after church. Everyone has been very nice and friendly to us also. We also did some grocery shopping and other shopping after church on Sunday. When we got home some of the neighbors were waiting to meet us and one of the families had even made brownies for us. They were all so very nice and helpful. We couldn't be happier with our neighbors so far. They all seem to be younger couples (low to mid 30's) with young children (5 and younger). They gave me the names of all of their kids doctors so I could do some checks on them and said if we needed anything to just ask. We even got invited to one of the kids birthday parties this Saturday. We plan to go. Sunday night we did some more hanging of things, Marty put Haleigh's crib together and then we played some Wii. It has been a long time since I have played the wii.
Well I realize this is the condensed version of the past few weeks and I am sorry about that, but I hope to be better starting this week. I will also be updating our pictures on our shutterfly site so check those out. One final thought about my first week in Virginia, I love that I am back with my husband and we back to being a family again, but I must say I love the weather so far in Virginia as well. Even on a low 50 degree day the sky is blue and the sun is shinning and it just makes you smile. ( I should note that we have only had 1 low 50 degree day. The rest of the time it has been in the upper 50's to mid 60's with 70's all weekend and today) :) Miss Everyone!

Drive to Virginia

Our drive started around 5:45 am on Sunday, Nov. 1. Leaving that early in the morning allowed us to make really good timing for the first half of our trip. I was a little worried about being in the car for 12-13 hours, but it ended up being a great road trip. Marty and I had such a great time talking and believe it or not Maggie even had a good time. Every time we stopped she got to get out and run around for a little bit and we all got to see parts of the U.S. that we hadn't seen before. Off the top of my head right now I don't remember the exact route we took, but we mapped it out for those who would like to come visit. It truly was a beautiful drive. I will be posting some pictures on our shutterfly site if you want to take a look. Of course pictures don't always capture the true beauty of an area. We finally arrived at our house around 6:45 pm. We stopped by our actually house to look around and then went on to the apartment Marty had been staying in so we could all get a good nights sleep.

Our last weekend in MI

Marty flew in Saturday because all of our stuff showed up in VA on Friday. He said our house was packed full of boxes. Marty got here around 10:15 and I was so happy to see him. I new it would be the last time I was going to have to pick him up at the airport for awhile. Once I picked him up we went back to my mom and Karl's for a little bit and then off to his dads to celebrate our oldest nieces birthday. Breanna will be turning 17 on Nov. 7th so we all wanted to get together to celebrate since we would be in VA at that time. Marty's dad and Amy made some great crab legs (Bre's favorite) and chicken. Marty really enjoyed her cake because it was a jello cake. His favorite and now hers. It's hard to think that one of our nieces is turning 17. It seems like she was so little just a few weeks ago. After lunch and spending some great time with our Rodriguez Family, we went back to my mom and Karl's to celebrate Karl's birthday. Again his B-day is Nov. 4th and we would be in VA by that point. All of our family came over for dinner. Mom made some great hamburgers, brats, homemade mac and cheese, and grandma made some potato salad. It was all great food. My uncle also made some pumpkin pies for dessert. Eating those made me excited for Thanksgiving. It was nice getting to see everyone on Saturday. We wish we could have seen all family members though before we left. Sunday morning came and Marty, Maggie and I had to pack the car to leave. We had hoped to get on the road by 5am, but as everyone knows when taking a long car ride you never get on the road when you want to. We ended up leaving around 5:45am. I will post more about our drive to VA later. We just want all of our family and friends to know we miss you all and love you all. Come visit us anytime.

My last full week in MI

So my last full week in MI was packed full of things to do. The company that was packing and moving all of our stuff came Monday morning. For most of the day Monday they packed every little thing in our house. I must say it was nice to see them do this and not myself. What took them 6 hours and 3 men to do would have taken me months and an entire army to do. Monday night our great friends the Schaals came over for dinner. They brought me pizza from our favorite place. The kids had fun running through all the boxes that were packed up everywhere. It was really hard to say goodbye to them. Our families have gotten so much closer over the last 4 years or so. Starting Monday night as well Maggie and I were staying at my mom and Karl's house. Maggie didn't quite know what to think of it, but she got used to it by the end of the week. They were so kind to let us crash in the basement for the week. I must admit it was nice to get the home cooked meals again. Thanks Mom and Karl for that you did for us that week. Tuesday was a very long day. I had to be up and at the house by 7am so the movers could be packing the truck. If you want to see a big moving truck than move from one state to another. They told me this truck was the 10th largest semi (yes I said semi) ever. The cab at its own bathroom with a shower. The front portion was made like a camper. I will post pictures on our shutterfly site. The packing didn't go quite as well as the packing. On this truck they had 2 other families stuff so fitting ours was tough. They filled every noke of that truck with something. By about 10am I was sitting on a folding chair that I had brought over from my mom and Karls and reading a book. About 4pm I finished the whole book. I don't think I have ever had the time to sit down and read a 22 chapter book in one day. The movers were still packing at this point. I believe it was about 8pm when I headed back to my mom and Karls house for the night. At this point some of our stuff was strapped to the back of the semi and it filled their cab. The guys were going to have to stay the night in a hotel because they didn't have room to sleep in the truck. When the guys went to leave in the truck they realized their battery was dead so they ended up having to run their generator for a little bit to charge the battery. Also at that point none of the guys had eaten anything. They never stopped throughout the day for lunch or dinner and when I said I would buy them pizza for dinner they didn't want it because they didn't want to take the time to stop and eat. They were such hard workers. Wednesday I went and did my sugar test for being 28 weeks pregnant. ( all is good with that) I went to lunch with another great friend of mine Amber Gagnon. Again it was very hard to say goodbye. We are very lucky people in that we have some great friends that we will miss. Later in the afternoon I went to Comcast to drop off our cable stuff before heading out to my dad and Jeri's house for dinner. I only have one thing to say about the Comcast stuff, don't ever go to the office unless you absolutly have to. Dinner at my dad and Jeri's was very good. Jeri made a great beef stew with biskets. I was telling Marty about it and now he wants me to make it for him. It was really good. Jorie and Mackenzey and Kyle (before he went off to school) were there also. I really appreciated the home cooked meal and the chance to say goodbye to them before I headed off to VA. Thursday was just another day of running around. Friday I watched our niece Mackenzey for the morning while my sister was at work. We had such a great time. It was fun getting a few good hours of just her and I time. She had a stuff/runny nose so she was feeling that good, but that didn't stop her from smiling a lot. When Jorie got out of work at noon she brought home lunch. It was good to hang out with my sister for a little bit. The rest of Friday was filled with last minute running around and resting for the big weekend.

Last Week at Work

So I realize I haven't posted in a very long time, but our move to Virginia has made it difficult to keep in touch. Over the next few days I hope to have our blog and photo site up-to-date with everything that has been going on.
The week of the 23rd was my last week at Kettering. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone. On Thursday Oct. 22nd the Student Life staff put together a going away party/baby shower for me. The staff went in together and bought us the floor play mat that we wanted and a very cute outfit. They are all such great people. After the shower portion they had a campus wide going away party for me. So many people stopped by to say goodbye and wish me luck with everything. Seeing all the people that showed up was very overwhelming. You don't realize just how many people you have helped or worked with until you are leaving. A good number of students also stopped by and told me stories about all the times I helped them or just how much they were going to miss me. It made me sad, but also very happy that I had done what I felt my job was, helping the students. I will miss all of the great people of Kettering University very much and I wish them all the best.
Friday the 23rd was a very strange/good day. I went to lunch with my head boss Betsy, my direct boss, Debbie and the person that was going to be filling in for me until they found a permanent person, Tracy. We had lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and it was really good. The one things our staff always had was fun. We all got along really well so lunch was full of a lot of stories and laughter. I stayed until the end of the day and then things got hard. Saying my finally good bye to everyone was hard. Saturday I went for a maternity massage and that helped relieve a lot of the stress of leaving.

Last Doctor Visit in Michigan

Today was my last Ob/Gyn appointment before I head down to meet our new doctor in Virginia. I am going to miss Dr. Mewada. He was such a great doctor and I would recommend him to anyone. Everything with the baby was good. Her heartbeat was at 155 and he said I am right on track with everything else. I can't wait until we can do another ultrasound so I can see her again. I am hoping the new place will want to do one when I first get there, but we will see.

Haleigh's Baby Shower

Saturday was such a great day. Our families put together a wonderful baby shower. I couldn't believe how many gifts received from everyone. We are so blessed to have the family and friends that we do. The planners of the event, Haleigh's aunts - Jorie, Kristin, Amy, and Jenny and Haleigh's grandma's Brenda and Jeri all did such a great job with everything. The hall looked so good and the food was amazing. We had all of my favorites, taco's, pizza rolls and cheese dip with homemade tortilla chips, meatballs, veggie pizza's, and fresh fruit. There was so much other great food as well. A big thanks goes out to my brother-in-law Greg for making the cake. He did such a good job with it. It was three layers with white cake and fudge filling in the middle. It makes me hungry just thinking about it.
I never really knew how much it truly takes to care for a baby until I saw just all the gifts we received. Haleigh is one lucky girl and we are very lucky and blessed parents. I can't wait to put her in all of the really cute outfits we got and all of her toys in her new toy box. I especially can't wait to wrap her up in all the warm soft blankets we got and cuddle up to her. I look forward to some great naps with her. :) We want to thank everyone for their generosity and support during this time. We love you all so much. Check out pictures from the shower on our shutterfly page if you would like. Enjoy!

My trip to Virginia.

It has been a week since I have been back from Virginia. Work is keeping me very busy these days so I am just getting a chance to write about it. They are trying to get as much work out of me as they can before I leave.

Last Friday I left for Virginia and boy was I happy. My flights were all on time and I just couldn't wait to get there. I arrived in VA about 4:30 p.m. and Marty was there waiting for me. We were so excited to see each other. The weather was beautiful and I knew we were going to have a good weekend. After we left the airport we headed to Wendy's for a quick dinner before we met our realtor at our house. We wanted to get into the house to measure some of the rooms to see what furniture would fit and also to get measurements on the windows for some new blinds. After stopping at the house we headed back to Marty's apartment. He is living in a very nice gated community. The rest of the night was just spent hanging out and playing the wii. Saturday was pretty much a lot of same. We hung around the apartment just spending some quality time together. It was so nice to not have anything we needed to do. Later in the afternoon we drove down to Newport News to check out some furniture stores and then we went into the big mall there. We found the blinds that we wanted. After doing some shopping we went and ate at a restaurant called "Cheddars". It was a really good restaurant. If anyone comes across one you must try the Big Cookie Monster. That was the best dessert. It is a freshly baked (they bake the cookie right when you order it. It takes 10 minutes) chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. The cookie was so soft and good. Marty had a really good dinner also, but I can't remember the name of it. After dinner we drove around a little bit and then went back to the apartment. Marty had bought the movie Wolverine (it is from the series of X-men) so we watched that and then off to bed. Sunday morning we went to a new church Marty had tired out the week before. He wanted me to see it. It was called St. Olaf (sp). It made us think of the Golden Girls. It was a very nice church. It could have been bigger for the amount of people they cram in, but from the sounds of it they are going to build a bigger church. I really liked that there were a lot of families with younger kids and babies so I felt like we would fit in. After church we had to head to the airport because my flight was leaving at 1:20 p.m. It was yet another very hard good-bye. We had such a great weekend that just went by way too fast. Because I was so upset about having to leave him again I knew the flights weren't going to go as well. I was right. My flight from VA to Atlanta was stuck flying around because a thunderstorm was sitting over Atlanta so we couldn't land. By the time we did land (which we landed on the furthest runway from the buildings) I had 5 minutes to get to my next flight before I would miss it. Oh ya and our gate changed so I also had to change terminals to get to my next flight. Let's just say Haleigh got to feel what it is like for mom to run. I made it to the gate just in time for them to be boarding so I was safe. I didn't however have time to stop and get dinner so I was stuck eating a pop tart I had bought in the VA airport. Once I was on my fight to Flint I thought things were all good, but then we had missing paperwork and were stuck sitting at the gate for 45 minutes before we could take off. The upside to this flight was I was in the 2nd row and I had it all too myself. It was nice having all the leg room. Once we were up in the air things were good. We were only about 15 minutes late getting into Flint. I thought things were looking up since I was finally back in MI, but they had to throw one more thing at us. When we got to the gate we couldn't deplane right away because the jet way we needed to get off the plane was being used by another plane. So there we sat again at the gate for about 15-20 minutes waiting for the other plane to finish boarding. Once I was off the plane things were good and I headed home were I was greeted by a very happy dog. We were sad to separate again, but we are looking forward to our next visit which is now in a week. Sorry for such a long blog. I will hopefully get better at this and blog more often so they aren't so long. Take care. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.