Were getting close!

It has been awhile since my last update. Sorry everyone, its been hectic with the holidays, working, and getting ready for baby! We have done a lot in the last few weeks.

Baby update: Today I am 34 weeks and 3 days pregnant! I went to the doctor a few days ago and everything is looking great. The baby seems to be measuring about a week ahead which isnt really a bad thing. The baby has a perfect heart rate! My blood pressure is wonderful and im right on target with my weight gain! I will be getting seen every other week until I am 38 weeks and then will get seen every week until delivery. No more ultrasounds so no more pictures :( sorry everyone!

I cant believe how close we are getting to meeting our little one. Here are a few things that im really looking forward to in no particular order:
1. Meeting the little person that is in there- I feel such a close connection with this baby already and he or she isnt even here yet. I am so looking forward to meeting the little person who has been my constant companion for the last several months!
2. Gender- Im really curious to see if the little person growing inside me has been a boy or a girl this whole time. I have to say im kind of feeling like its a girl now. I guess we shall see!
3. What he/she looks like- Ricky and I look nothing alike! I have been wondering since we found out we were expecting what this baby will look like and who he/she will take after.
4. Personality- This baby is a kicker and is so active! Ricky and I are both pretty active people and this baby seems to be following in mommy and daddy's footsteps in that regard already. Im excited to see what other personality traits he/she may have picked up from either one of us.
5. Breastfeeding- I have read many things about breastfeeding and the bond between mother and child. Im really hoping that both baby and I get the hang of this.
6. Bringing the baby home- I cant wait to take the baby back to our home and see him/her in all of the things we have been getting to prepare for his/her arrival.
7. Meeting the family- I am really looking forward to everyone in our lives meeting this little person. This baby is going to be loved by so many people and im sure as a result spoiled completely rotten!
These are just a few of the thousands and thousands of things that im looking forward to.

Soon, the baby will be here. I feel like I have been pregnant forever, yet at the same time I feel like it went by too quickly. I have really enjoyed my pregnancy thus far and consider myself so very lucky! Im hoping that labor and delivery will go just as smoothly as the pregnancy itself! I guess we will see!

A quick note! Since baby Rodriguez will soon be here make sure you have put in your bet for gender/weight/ birthday etc by clicking on the link  http://www.bebepool.com/TOTSSL and following the instructions. Time is running out to enter your best guess in our baby poll!

How to play:

1. Go to http://www.bebepool.com/TOTSSL (if the link doesnt work by clicking on it, copy and paste it into the internet search box)

2. Enter your best guess for each category. (DON'T forget to put your name! You do not need to enter your email address). 

3. Click preview then SAVE!!! If you do not click save it will not post!
4 Check out the stats at the bottom of the page and see what others think 

Ricky and I have both entered our guesses into the poll. We didn't tell each other any of our guesses until after we each took the poll but we seem to be on the same page about what we think! 

Baby Bump

I will be 28 weeks tomorrow! I can not believe that I am that far along already! Im in my 3rd trimester! I honestly never thought id get here months ago it felt like a lifetime away and here I am. Today I took my glucose test, which was not fun! I had to drink this really sugary drink that made my stomach hurt and gave me a headache. Then I had to wait an hour and go get my blood drawn. This is to see if I have gestational diabetes. I should get the results next week! 

I have been feeling the baby move and kick me constantly now. The weird thing is I can now see the baby move. Ill see what looks like a ball roll across my belly. Its crazy to see. Ricky finds it equally weird but its also really kind of cool! The baby seems to be doing great and my belly is getting bigger and bigger and bigger! Approximately 12 weeks to go! 

27 weeks 6 days! I feel like a whale!!!! 

  

Getting ready for baby... really slowly!

We have a 2nd bedroom that we have been using as basically a storage space for all of Ricky's army gear. This will be the nursery for the baby one day. It needs a lot of work! We are clearing everything out and moving all of the baby stuff in which is a big job all in itself. We also have some black bookshelves that we decided we are going to sand down and paint green. Its a slow process but its slowly taking shape.

Ricky working on the bookshelves 

This is how the room started 

After moving some gear around 

Bedroom today. It looks a lot better than it did, still a work in progress 

Halloween

I realize its Dec and im behind but I wanted to share what we did for Halloween. Ricky has never been to a pumpkin patch or a farm and I thought it would be fun to experience that. I found a wonderful little farm that we decided to go to with some friends of ours. We fed some of the farm animals, we went on a hay ride, we went through a corn maze, and we of course picked our pumpkins out of the pumpkin patch. We had a ton of fun and will definitely be repeating it again next year.

Ricky and I got 2 little pumpkins and 1 very large pumpkin. I drew the face and Ricky gutted and carved it. I think it turned out pretty good!

Ricky working hard! 

The finished product! 

 On Halloween night we went trick or treating with some friends of ours and their children. Ricky and I dressed up Marley and Ringo and brought them with us. Marley was a Redskins football player and Ringo was a Colts football player. Ricky likes to say they dressed up as the underdogs lol. We had a lot of fun and Marley and Ringo got some yummy dog treats!

This is the best picture they would let me get 

Birthdays!

Ricky and I both have birthdays in November (5 days apart). We had wonderful birthdays that were spent relaxing and spoiling each other. For Ricky's birthday I made a steak dinner with baked potatoes and broccoli with cheese and of course a birthday cake. This year Ricky decided he wanted a Redskins birthday cake. I made a vanilla cake with butter cream icing. Then I rolled out some white fondant and painted the Redskins emblem on it with edible food coloring. It was the first time I have attempted to paint a cake. I think it turned out really good! Sadly Ricky has the pictures so I cant post a picture of it right now :(
For my birthday Ricky made me one of my favorite meals, Red beans, rice, and smoked sausage. Because he had to work and cakes are my thing I made my own birthday cake. I decided I wanted a zebra print cake. So I made a white cake with vanilla butter cream icing. Then I rolled out white fondant and put it on the cake. Then I made some black fondant and added the zebra stripes. When Ricky got home from work he helped me by making pink pears and adding them around the base of the cake and then he piped "Happy Birthday Brittany" on my cake in pretty pink icing. All in all we had pretty good birthdays.

A New Car!

For those of you who dont know, I have had the same car since high school. It was a White Chevy Malibu aka Bu. My dad bought the car when we were stationed at Ft. Stewart. Years passed, the car went on several cross country trips, got in a few fender benders (oops) and had some work done. It was a good reliable car that I have a lot of memories in. Sadly it was nearing the end of its lifespan and it was time to say goodbye to the Bu and hello to a new car. Ricky and I looked for several months and finally found a car that is perfect for us. We decided on a used Silver Jeep Commander. We got a great deal on it and it had extremely low mileage. The car is perfect for our growing family. It has a roomy back seat for baby and a lot of cargo space for Marley and Ringo. We added a few features for added safety. We put a cage in that separates the back seat and the cargo area so the dogs stay away from baby during car rides. We also added a basket roof rack for our luggage for trips to visit the grandparents. So far we really like our new car. I have to say though, it was kind of bitter-sweet saying goodbye to the Bu.

New Car minus the roof rack

Over Half Way There!

I am 22 weeks today :) The past couple of weeks have really gone by fast. Here is an update. 2 weeks ago I went to my anatomy scan. It is an ultrasound where they check to make sure the baby is healthy and growing correctly, they also check to see if there are any indicators of the baby having a disability. Everything with the baby looks wonderful! The baby was measuring 3 days early but my due date is staying the same Feb 29th. They also found out that I have a low lying placenta. This means that the placenta is too close to my cervix. If my placenta doesnt move then I will have to have c-section which is not what I want at all! There is also a possibility that I will have to go on bed rest which I also do not want. I am just praying that my placenta moves and it will no longer be an issue, so lets all hope and pray it moves! The baby is getting so big! Ricky finally got to go to an appointment with me and he got to see our baby for the first time in person! It was a great experience for us to share. We decided to not find out the gender so it is still a surprise! Be sure to take a look at the video and pictures!

Not the best picture but baby is looking at you! 

Baby Feet- Right and left foot!

Profile Pic- The baby is pressing his/her lips together :)

This past weekend Ricky and I went to Jacksonville to visit my grandparents and to go to their Babies R Us. The Babies R Us in Savannah is so small. The Babies R Us in Jacksonville is at least 4x's the size of the one here in Savannah. We decided to go there to register so we can look at several different items that the Jacksonville store has that the Savannah store does not. Things we do not get off of our registry we plan on buying at a later time at the Jacksonville Babies R Us or at Babies R Us online. There are some items that we have to buy online such as the cloth diapers (yes we plan on using cloth and not disposable diapers. It is SO much cheaper and they are nothing like what they used to be!) the ones we will be using are not sold in the stores and are only found online. We also registered at Target because I love Target! They have some really cute things as well! I love baby shopping!