Alexa has a voice!

Alexa has graduated to making coo-ing noises! Mama is so excited and can't wait to hear my voice.

10 weeks - Update

In 10 weeks, Miss Alexa has accomplished a lot.  We have not been so diligent with our postings of watching Nugget grow.  We do vow to be better now that we are in the swing of things.

Here is a list of a few things that has happened:

Attended her first Pride - skated with the Dames
Attended her first Roller Derby Bout - Yeah Pissahs won in a nailbiter
Had her 2 month shots - was a champ!
Visited NH - Manchester and Deerfield - wow my Uncle & Aunt live in the boonies.
Found her hands - able to grab
Sleeping way longer then 2 hour stretches - for the most part
Outgrown most of her NB clothes due to my length - currently 23.25"
Have taken to a bottle for supplemental feedings
Enjoying playdates with the Rottens - Hi Peach, Hi Joe!
Made a lot of new friends at New Moms Group - Hi Layla!

IT'S A GIRL!!

We are so excited to welcome Alexa Brady Robinson Kempinski to our family!!

She was born on May 1st, 2010 at 3:03am, after 27 hours of labor and 1/2 hour of pushing :)

She weighed 6 lbs, 15oz. and was 19 in. long.

We are totally in love!

Fruits & Veggies Chart

Bassinet

In 1975, a little baby was born. Her name was Jennifer and her parents received a wonderful bassinet in which this beautiful young child slept in her first few months in the world. This bassinet then was used for her little brother Clay, and then passed on to her aunt and uncle for her cousins Kent and Keith. In the hopes that a grandchild would be coming their way, the family held onto this bassinet for 25 years. With love, Nana and Papa restored the bassinet, and Great-Nana hand-sewed custom bassinet sheets, blankets and a pillow, along with beautiful decorative ruffles and bows to coordinate. Here is the gorgeous finished product, just ready and waiting for our little Nugget.

Outside view: ruffles, bow and crib sheets

Inside view: pillow, blanket, and crib sheets

Made with love

The Nursery is DONE!

Nugget is going to be joining us very soon and the nursery is ready. Everything has come together so well due to Jennifer's amazing style and vision. We have finished off the room with lighting, bookshelves and electronics that go perfectly with the feel and look we were aiming for.

View from the door

 Glider, bureau & changing pad

Beautiful hand-made mobile from our friend, Carroll (aka Shattered)

mamaROOOOOOOOO!

Nuggs' mamaROO has arrived!  Besides a cool name, it has some really sweet functions: 5 unique motions (Car Ride, Kangaroo, Tree Swing, Ocean Wave & Rock a Bye) w/ 5 speeds, 5 built in nature sounds, a toy mobile of artwork from Van Gogh, Monet & Seurat, a mp3 player, LCD display & a reclining seat.  Fingers crossed that Nuggs likes it as much as we do!

can i get one?

Monthly Comparison Pic - Months 3-9

Here is our final monthly comparison picture for you. Oh three months, how much I long for you again (well those abs at least). What you can't see from any of these pictures are the constant kicks and punches our cute little Nugget is hammering me with hourly (unless other people are around, then no movement at all of course). Maybe if you squint when you look at the last picture, you can see a little bump on the lower right hand side and can pretend that is a fist, and imagine my pain....

9 (and final) months picture

So the final monthly belly picture is here. It has been a long 36+ weeks, but a very healthy and not terribly uncomfortable one (with minimal maternity clothes bought!!). Nugget is now at full term and can safe arrive any day now, though Jennifer and I, being the planners/control freaks we are, hope Nuggs comes closer to schedule :)

 

36 weeks (9 months)

Since this is the last picture of this series, I started to get a little goofy while Jennifer continued to snap away. I think these pictures may show you exactly how big our "not-so-little" Nugget has gotten. Enjoy.

Final Ultrasound w/ a Special View

Last week, we had our final ultrasound. We were able to make it through this entire experience never finding out the sex of the baby. WAHOO!! It helped that I would go into the ultrasounds almost screaming at each technician/doctor at least 5 times that we didn't want to know. But ultimately, there were never any "accidental sightings" of anything so we were able to keep this surprise alive. In this final visit, Nuggs was measured every which way, from her/his head to abdomen to femur and shin bones. Based on these measurements, as of week 35, our little one weighed 5lbs 14 ounces with a little more than 4 weeks left to go. As a going away present, the doctor took some 3D pictures of Nuggs (which Jennifer had to approve before I would look because I actually find these pictures way to alien-like). 

 

week 35 - OMG!

A New Room for Nugget

We have made wonderful progress with the nursery!  The painting is complete, the furniture is in, the bedding is being washed, the shades have been installed, the art has been hung and the rug is down. WAHOO! 

The pictures don't do it justice.....

I had a great day with my Mom doing Nugget laundry, folding little clothes, organizing the bureau drawers, getting advice on what other items we should purchase and getting pedicures for all our hard work :)

First Load of Nugget Laundry

Thanks to Grandma, Nugget has a wonderful place to lay his/her head, and thanks to Nana, it looks beautiful.

amy j west photography

a sampling of our day with amy!

9-5 Family Shower

Nugget is so lucky that I work with a fantastic group of people. My 9-5 family threw me a beautiful SURPRISE! baby shower. I didn't see it coming at all. When Seema came to get me I thought she giving her notice!!! That is how serious she was.....but when I saw Carmelita and Melanie walking towards the kitchen, the light bulb went off and a smile crossed my face.


The kitchen had been transformed into a baby shower land with linens, flowers, appetizers, a candy bar and a gorgeous baby cake to celebrate Nugget and Guac. My friend Carmelita is due around the same time so we were able to share in a joint shower. I am extremely lucky to have met the folks I work with. They are talented, giving, generous, and creative and detail oriented folks and every detail was coordinated for this shower. I am very thankful to all the ladies who hosted our shower and am very appreciative for all the generous gifts we received.  And I am thankful for Matt, the patient, voice of testosterone in the group.

Ready to Travel!

Check another item off the list!
Leigh and I took advantage of the beautiful weekend weather and installed the car seat base.  That was a chore, but we managed to get all the clips secured.  We even drove around for a bit with the car seat in the base to test it out and get used to the feeling of a baby in the car.

we learned in class Nugget is 17% safer in the middle

Gloucester with the Derby Girls to celebrate Nugget!

Nugget is so lucky to be surrounded and loved by such amazing friends already!!  Krushpuppy opened her home and co-hosted with Etta Maims and Malicen Thunderland a lovely gathering of our Derby Family to play a little derby bingo, eat a lot of delicious food, shower Deck, Nugget and me with love and talk a little derby. 

The generosity and creativity we were lavished with was incredible.  No detail was missed, from the game, to the decorations, to the prizes, to the favors and the gifts for Nugget.  We are very thankful for all the kindness from the Dames!!

krushpuppy baby cake - delicious!!

derby bingo card

notice the artwork for the nursery was used in the making of the bingo cards - warms my <3!

(questions/card to be uploaded once i figure out the scanner issue)

Almost the final Monthly Comparison

We are getting down to the final weeks...almost able to count how many weeks left on one hand! Here is the month over month comparison. You can see that the tank top I'm wearing is definitely stretching to cover the belly now. All my clothes are getting tighter for sure and baby's movements are much more visible (alien-like) than ever before.

8 months (holy cow!)

Sorry for the delay folks...things are getting kind of hectic and our to-do list is crazy long so getting this pic done and up has taken longer than planned. I'll be working on the month over month comparison this week so stay tuned.

 

32 weeks (8 months)

Meanwhile, as I get bigger and slower, I'm still chugging away at the gym and walking 3 days a week during lunchtime. Though my balance is off and I've lost the little bit of rhythm I think I had, I continue to make it through my weekly Urban Rebounding class. Thought you'd enjoy a shot of me in action.

  

Still got the derby legs and the abs are kind of still there, just hidden by the huge belly.

Showered with Love

Our Moms really out did themselves with Nugget's baby shower!  Everything from the color schemed enviroment, to the tablescapes, the prizes and the hospitality were outstanding!  West on Centre was a great restaurant to work with, the food was tasty, the space was comfortable and the staff was sweet and very attentive.  The brunch events of trivia, paper plate baby drawing and fruits & veggie growth chart games were a big hit with our competitive friends :).

Leigh and I were so excited to share this day with our closest friends and family.  We were overwhelmed with the outpouring of generosity, love, wisdom and thoughtfulness.  We are well outfited for the nursery, clothing, bathing, feeding, outings, fun times and more.

We received tons of diapers in all sizes and brands from the diaper raffle. Nugget's library is off to a fantastic start from the book raffle. The inscriptions were so sweet and will be a joy to read in the months, years to come. Plans are underway for Uncle Clay to build a book bin in the nursery.  Maia went home with a basket full of kitchen gadgets, gizmos and books from the diaper raffle. Ellen Abdow went home with the prize from the book raffle.  Her basket included teas, book items and a handmade blanket from Maine.

Thank you to Nana and Grandma Biddy for this amazing day- Nugget is very lucky to be so loved and so are we!

Passed the First Baby Class

This past weekend, Jennifer and I attended the first of 3 baby classes we've signed up for. This one was an one-day, three-hour Newborn Essentials class. I won't bore you with all that was touched upon in this class, but I will say that I did learn that there are people out there who really should not be having kids. And after I left the class, because of the "not-so on-the-ball" folks, I feel much better about Jennifer and me as parents (not that I ever had any doubt, but I have even more confidence in us now).

One thing we did learn that I was anxious to be taught was swaddling. We are far from mastering it but now know the basics which puts my mind at ease a bit.

      First Swaddle Attempt (too loose)      

Second Swaddle Attempt (tight burrito!)  

Next up is Infant CPR and then Prepared Childbirth. With 8 weeks left, there is no denying the reality of Nugget joining our family very very soon.

Nursery Progress

Folks, our To-Do list is unbelievable and constantly growing, and we are getting down to the wire (9 weeks and counting).

Finally, after lots of talk and some insomnia on my part, Jennifer and I made some serious progress on the nursery. Spackling (thanks to some help from Jennifer's dad) and spot priming are DONE. Closet 95% cleared out. We cleaned out our office and back hall too, with 5-6 bags of stuff donated to Boomerangs and space for lots of baby stuff now made. Room-darkening shades have been orders and will be picked up on Thursday. Once we get this darn bedding in that Jennifer ordered, we can move on actually buying and painting the room, so when the furniture and baby come, all will be right in the world.

 

Jennifer working hard in the nursery.

Single digit weeks to go!!!

Nugget has 9 more weeks to go until s/he meets us!  WOW!  9 more weeks, we cannot believe that we are down to single digits.

As of last week Nugget was a butternut squash, 17" & 3 lbs.

We are in the midst of working on the nursery and organizing the house.  Next weekend is our friends & family baby shower and we need to have space for all the baby gear.

Below is the updated Monthly Comparison picture. I had to change the format a bit to get all the pictures in without making them any smaller. I also enhanced this a tad by adding the week under the month label, since everything around babies, pre- and post-natal,  is about weeks. Though in these pictures, the 6th and 7th month pictures don't look drastically different, believe me when I tell you: the pictures LIE. I have officially reached beach ball status. I can no longer see my toes without quite an effort, often need assistance putting my shoes on or getting off the couch (i appreciate JRo more and more each day for all she does for me), and moan and groan with every movement from picking something up off the ground to switching my left to right side when laying in bed. And I still have 12 more weeks to go. Sweet.

7 months - 12 weeks left until April 25th!!

 

Everyone lies: it's really a 10 month incubation period (40 weeks)

We will be posting the monthly comparison chart this week.

Nursery is coming together!!

A milestone has been reached!  The crib and bureau have been ordered and we just have to wait...10-12 weeks. We are hoping this lead time is just an "under promise, over deliver" situation.  Fingers crossed.  Especially since Leigh is due in 12 weeks - HOLY COW!!!

The style of the furniture fits into the rest of the house decor nicely.  We ordered the vintage cherry finish, which is a bit warmer then the picture (the picture below is mochachino).  The bed converts into a toddler/youth/full size bed.  We really like the feature of the bed growing with the person.  The top of the bureau will be the changing table.  We are all about the versatility.  I saw this environment and just fell in love.  I can not wait to continue the nursery. 

I investigated clean, low/no VOC paints and I hope our Home Depot carries all the colors.  As the bedding has not been finalized, I am 100% sure of the bumper and 80% sure of the skirt and feel confidant that the colors of the wall will be in the hues that dominate the bumper.  We hope to get to Home Depot this weekend to purchase ceiling, trim and wall colors!!!

This picking out custom bedding has been exciting and stressful.  It is also not for the immediate gratification person.  However, the company that I am working with has been great to work with and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Fruits & Veggies Update

I recently realized that all the pictures that we've been posting about this journey have either involved gifts to Nugget or pictures of me (the Vessel) growing rounder and wearing odd clothing. But there is another member of this family who has been amazing throughout this experience, and who is just as excited as I am for this next adventure. So here are some photos of my wonderful Jennifer (JRo).

Jennifer singing/reading some children songs to Nugget before bed.

Jennifer giving Nugget a kiss good night.

Must be Love

For the first time in over 20 years, I peeled a banana.  It must be love. 
I made pumpkin banana chocolate chip bread for Leigh to have as a healthier snack.

I have come to the realization that bananas are going to be part of Nugget's life and I am going to need to get over my hatred for this fruit. 

I peeled, I mashed, I survived.

Caved....

and purchased a maternity jacket....hehehehe

Fruits & Veggies

Better Perspective

So every month since we've been taking pics of my increasingly bigger belly, I have put together a comparison chart of all the photos for some of my family members who had trouble seeing the growth of the massiveness that used to be my awesome 2-pack. I just added the 6th month photo and thought I'd posted up here for all to enjoy.