Babymoon!

I know that I brag about my husband often, but he totally deserves it! This weekend he earned more MAJOR husband points. It will take several years of me going to cattle sales to earn any wife points near what he did!

While we were on our honeymoon we decided that we wanted to make it a point to go on an anniversary trip every year. It didn't have to be a big trip, but just a little time away for just the two of us. Since our first anniversary is so close to the due date of our first baby, we decided to take a short trip a little before May 31st.

We decided a few weeks ago that we were going to head for Chicago the weekend of April 25th. It would be celebrate our anniversary/my birthday/our baby. The hardest part was that I gave up total control to Trever to make all decisions. If you know me well, I'm a planner, and it was very hard to trust that he had it all figured out!

Let me tell you, he had it ALL figured out!

We left home around 10:15 Saturday morning and headed north. We stopped in Matteson and had lunch at Fuddruckers . Then we headed in to the city and dropped our car and luggage off at valet parking.

For the next hour or so we wondered around downtown Chicago. We went to Nordstroms where we tried to find the perfect dress for our baby to wear to Kevin & Nicole's wedding. We also stopped at a couple of fancy jewlery stores where they offered as drinks! You know you can't afford anything when they offer you a free beverage just for walking in their store! We also checked out Trader Joe's and Cosi which are places I've heard about in my blog stalking so I had to check them out myself!

We then headed back to the hotel and checked in. We relaxed for a little bit before we had some place to be at 4. I had no idea where Trever was taking me, he only told me that it was about 5 blocks from the hotel.

So, we checked out our trusty map quest page and headed back toward Michigan Avenue. When we turned the corner, a sign just happened to catch my eye that said Day Spa. (This is where he got the MAJOR husband points) We went in this building that was just off of Michigan Avenue and had to check in at the front door. We headed up to the forth floor where I was greeted with "are you here for your pregnancy massage" in a very thick European accent. Trever had done his research and found this day spa online and scheduled me an amazing pregnancy massage! The next hour felt wonderful! It also felt like the shortest hour ever! Trever went next door and had a drink and was waiting on me when I came out!

We returned to our hotel where we showered and got gussied up for a night out. Trever tells me that the next reservation was for him, but I enjoyed it an awful lot myself. We had dinner reservations at Lawry's for Prime Rib. The menu was pretty simple, you could choose between prime rib or prime rib. For someone who isn't a huge fan of prime rib, this meal was wonderful! They start you out with a Spinning Salad Bowl and then they carve the prime rib at your table. You also get mashed potatoes, gravy, and Yorkshire pudding.

Following dinner we wondered around for a while before heading back to the hotel so I could put on more comfortable shoes! Then we ended up at Rock Bottom Brewery for dessert before heading back to crash after a long day.

Sunday morning we "slept in" and had a nice breakfast at the hotel. We decided that we were ready to head back to the country and were going to make a couple of stops to do some shopping on the way home. We were apparently so engrossed in conversation that we missed the first stop. We hit Kankakee just before 11 and did some shopping there. We ate lunch at one of our favorite Kankakee restaurants, Beef O'Brady's and then stopped by Trever's work for a while. We ended up getting home around 4.

We had a wonderful weekend...just the two (or 3) of us. We have some exciting things coming up the next few weekends as we continue to anticipate Junior's arrival!

Here are the only pictures I took all weekend! It's hard to take pictures when neither one of us wants to be in the picture alone!

Courtesy of the self time feature on the camera!

Again, I'm not overly confident in sharing these types of pictures, but figure I might as well give you guys what you want! This is Junior and me at 32 weeks 2 days! The lady at the front desk was worried that I was going to have the baby this weekend!

Another trip to the doctor

I went back to the doctor last Wednesday for another routine appointment. This was the first of my every 2 week appointments. I have two more of them before I start going every week. As usual, everything sounded and looked right on target. Even though the ultrasound showed she was 15 days ahead of schedule, she did not adjust our due date. Dr. H told me the baby was weighing around 4 pounds right now.

Following the doctor visit I headed to the dentist for a cleaning. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had and she swears that bleeding gums are a side effect of pregnancy. I think it's a side effect of a rough dental hygentist!

After that I went and picked up my little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters, Shelbie. We were off to Monicals and then hit the Country Kettle to visit with mom, dad, Uncle Rog, Aunt Carol, Dean & Lucille. Finally we stopped for ice cream at McDonalds before I dropped her off and headed back home.

Easter 2009

For the first time since Trever and I have been together we actually spent Easter with his side of the family. Since Kyla, Ron, Caisey & Maddison were home we went over Saturday night to spend some time with them. Uncle Trever hadn't seen Caisey since January and hadn't seen Maddi since she was just one week old! Greg and Kathy had also hidden 80 Easter Eggs around the farm. I found the most!!! I suppose next year they won't be hidden quite so well and I'll have to share with two little girls! Or they'll just have to learn to be competitive if they want to keep up!

Sunday morning we woke up nice and early and headed to Piper City for Sunrise Service. We enjoyed some super yummy eggs and sprinkled donuts and then headed to Onarga for regular church at 9. We got to cuddle with Maddi for a while during church. We figured that would be our only opportunity since there would be a lot more people wanting to play when we got back to the farm.

We spent the rest of the day at Greg & Kathy's. I definately didn't go overboard with pictures this time, but here are a few for our loyal readers.

I'm not sure I want to post this picture, but at least my good looking husband balances it out!

Uncle Trever was not being a very good sport! All Caisey wanted was one picture with him wearing the I love my big sister bib!

Grandpa Kuipers got to spend some time snuggling with his first Great Granddaughter!

Today's Ultrasound

The good news is, our little monster is still missing her boy parts!

The bad news is, she is measuring 2 weeks bigger than she's suppose to be! And her head is measuring even bigger than that!!!

We went back today for our second ultrasound. It wasn't nearly as exciting as the first one, but it was fun to see the different things that the technician pointed out in the pictures. Bubba wasn't being overly cooperative today. After her overly nutritious breakfast of McDonald's Cinnamelts and a Diet Coke she decided it was time for a nap.

Here are some interesting things that we learned today:

• Today I am at 30 weeks and 4 days (approximately 66 days until our due date).
• According to the ultrasound she is measuring at 32 weeks and 5 days.
• Her head measures in the 33rd week...OUCH!
• Her head is so far down that we couldn't get a good look at it. The head is pushing on my bladder.
• She is practicing breathing from time to time and her mouth is moving a lot. One of the pictures they gave us was of her yawning.
• We could see her heart beating.
• She had her legs crossed most of the time (here's to hoping they stay that way for another 20 some years)
• Her hands were in her face. One arm was over her eyes and the other over her mouth.
• Everything seems to be right where it is suppose to be!

All in all it was a pretty routine visit. It's nice to know that we don't have to repaint the nursery or ask the grandma's to return any of their girly outfits. And most importantly, it's nice to know that this monster growing inside of me that has an enormous head appears to be perfectly healthy!

An update on Bubba!

Bubba is one of the many names this kid has been given in the last few months. It's probably my favorite too since my favorite 2 year old anounced to his parents that Krista's baby was named Bubba! Although, I will give my parents credit with coming up with the Mini Kuipers thing, not bad.

Whatever you want to call her, it sure feels like she is going to be a soccer player. She has been getting quite a workout lately. The doctor tells us that will slow down before too long, but right now it feels like she is running out of room in there. I can feel her moving quite a bit and can also see the ripples in my stomach from time to time! There have been a couple of times I'm pretty sure my entire body shook from the force of her kick!

After a little bit of doctor drama, we made it to our appointment on Wednesday night. I figured dragging Trever to the doctor's office with me was the only way I could get him to take me out for my birthay! After the appointment we took a trip next door to the hospital where I met my favorite blood sucker yet! He hit my vein on the first attempt and I didn't feel a thing! While he went off to run some tests on my blood, Trever and I headed to the Bayern Stube for dinner! It was delicious! After dinner we headed back to the hospital so I could get a shot. Woohoo! Happy Birthday to me! I have an Rh negative blood type which means I lack certain antibodies in my blood. Since there is a very slim chance that the baby could be Rh positive, I had to have a Rhogam shot so that my body wouldn't reject the baby if it's blood somehow got in to my bloodstream during delivery. The doctor had me pretty freaked out about it, but it wasn't so bad. If only labor and delivery felt like a quick stick in the arm. The cool thing about going to the Labor & Delivery department to get the shot was that we got to meet a lot of the nursing staff. We were there right at shift change so we met several of them. They were in for a long night since there were no babies in the nursery and none expected to come in overnight either.

For the next 6 weeks I will be going to the doctor every 2 weeks. After 36 weeks I will start going every week until the baby decides to make her appearance.

Monday morning we will be going in for a second ultrasound. Hopefully she wont be as shy this time and we'll be 100% positive she really is a she! Look for more ultrasound pictures next week!