36 Weeks!

And now the real countdown begins! Today/tomorrow marks the start of our 36th week of this crazy journey. The last month—I can hardly believe it's here! Most days I feel ready. Some other days...not so much, lol. And everyone keeps telling me that no matter how ready I feel, I am not by any stretch of the imagination, and that no one is ever really ready. Well in response, all I can say is: Suck it, haters! I'm gonna keep pretending I've got my shit together, so there! Neener neener! (Plus! positive thinking about being prepared leaves me in a much calmer state of mind than being anxious about it, so I'm choosing preparedness, even if I'm totally deluded, lol!)

It does help that we got so much done this weekend (with lots of help from Michaela!). The crib is officially put together in the baby's room. Things are washed and put away. We have lots of diapers and other essentials stocked up and organized. All we need now is a little time to relax, sleep, and mentally prepare ourselves to share our lives with an incredible little dude. Adam and I are both sooooo excited to meet him and hold and cuddle him.

We had a check-up today; from here on, we will be going weekly since we are getting so close. And everything looked great as usual! My blood pressure was a little high when I first got there, but after resting on my left side for a few minutes, they rechecked and it was completely normal. Whew! Stormy was also very excited to be there, apparently. He was kicking like crazy, and his heartbeat measured at 150 bmp. He's normally somewhere around 130, but today's measurement was by no means unusual. We just caught him getting some exercise. Well, I tell ya, he'd better get it in now because things are getting really tight in there! As he gets bigger, his movements will become more restricted. He's surrounded in the max amount of amniotic fluid now, so the space around him isn't going to grow anymore. Any more growth will be all baby! Little dude needs a few more weeks to fill out and plump up before he joins us.

So that's all I've got for now, but stay tuned—the really exciting stuff isn't too far away!


(Just fyi, we learned today that pregnant or not, if your blood pressure is running high, laying on your left side to rest for a while is a surefire way to get it to come down a bit. Good information for anyone to know, I think!)

New Blog Tool

Look down there in the bottom right corner under this post. You should see a tiny white envelope with an arrow on top of it. If you want to forward a blog post we've written to any other family or friends, click on the envelope and it will direct you as to what to do. It will save you the few extra steps of copying and pasting. Hope that helps!

35 Weeks, woohoo!!!

So here we are at 35 weeks of pregnancy. Can I just say that this, now, is officially the most uncomfortable I've ever been in my life?!...and it's going to get worse?!...are you effing kidding me?!!! I think I might pass out, y'all. I'm pretty sure the extreme degree of my awkwardness even has Adam freaked the hell out. Sometimes he just stares with his mouth agape as he watches me struggling to get off the couch or out of the bed before remembering to ask me if I need a hand. Hahahaha! Poor guy, he has been so helpful and considerate for the duration, but sometimes I think he's still caught off guard by the whole thing. We get a lot of laughs out of it though! It's an absolute riot to try to explain to him how I feel, or why I get into bed the way I do (not pretty, folks, I assure you that!).

Anyway, regardless of all that, little Stormy and I are doing just fine. We were at the doctors' office yesterday for a check-up, and aside from the massiveness of my feet and ankles due to swelling over the last couple of weeks, everything is still right on track as far as baby's and my growth. Little dude has a strong steady heartbeat at 132 bpm this week, and is kicking around as much as ever, just itching to get out and see the world!

In other news, I have decided that this week is my last week of work. I have felt very fortunate that I have been able to run around and work on my feet all night as long as I have, but it's become really difficult to move around now, so I'm going to call it quits. It's only a week earlier than I had originally planned, so no biggie. But when my co-worker, Yuen, and I can't physically fit past each other behind the bar? Yeah, I think that's a definite sign to get the hell outta there and start my leave, LOL!! Also, now that the swelling has begun (thinking Stay-Puff marshmellows, anyone?), it's a pain in the butt...and thighs...and knees... to get a lot done. My work shoes don't even fit my ginormous ankles, people! So I'll be concentrating on keeping those puppies up as much as I can now while I finish up the last of things around the house in prep for Stormy's arrival, which will be very soon!

We start weekly check-ups with the doctor now that we are so close; and they say after 36 weeks, anything can happen...that's NEXT WEEK! Ahhhhhh!!! The final countdown begins! Keeping in mind the due date is May 27, anyone want to guess what his actual birthday will be?

Family Picture

Hey people! Well, last week we visited "our beach" for our last family vacay before Stormy joins us, though, as you can see from the picture, he is very much present! Every year, we go to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where Adam and I got married three years ago; and each year, we seem to add another family member to the trip. This year, we had with us both of Stormy's older cousins, Sophie and Little A, and next year, Stormy will join the ranks of the toddler posse. We can't wait to teach him to swim in the ocean and build sandcastles with his cousins!

32 Week Update

Just a quick one, y'all... We went to the doctor today for a visit, and everything's right on track! Little Stormy dude is growing steadily and kicking around all the time. Not so much to report other than that! But boring is good, like I've said many times before.

The Dr. gave us some info on circumcision, which we have decided to do, by the way, the day after he's born. My Ob actually performs the procedure, not the pediatrician. But that does remind me, I need to give her a call sometime soon too—we have decided to use Dr. Ann Eggert and her partner, Dr. somebody (haven't met 'em yet). Dr. Eggert specializes in Adolescent Medicine as well as Pediatrics, so Stormy will have the same doctor for a while. The best thing is, Dr. Eggert was my doctor growing up! And Adam and I are good friends with her son (who happens to have been in Cub Scouts with my brother and so on...). Small town, what can I say?! Anyway, we both like her a lot, even if she does only have steps up to her office, and not a stroller-friendly ramp... ;-p

Anyhow, there's not much going on for the next couple of weeks really. Easter week, we'll be heading to the beach for a family vacay. Geez, I can't wait to just float around in that water. It's been a while since I felt any kind of "light" ya know? LOL! And it will be great to have a relaxing trip shortly before Stormy joins us. There won't be too much relaxation for a while after he's here! Talk to y'all soon.

p.s. I need to blog about the baby shower! Maybe tomorrow after I get all the pics uploaded. There is so much to go through still!

What's in a Name?

Drumroll please!.....



We have chosen a name for our nameless Baby Antell! We hope you like our choice, and if not, too bad...you have two months to get over it and get used to it, HA!


Baby's name will be Stormy Tyler Antell.

• Yes, we are serious; no, we are not joking.
• No, it is not April Fool's Day (yet).
• He will go by Stormy, not Tyler or Ty or anything else, until (if/when) he chooses to go by something different.
• Because we like it, that's why.

We both love this name! There aren't so many Stormys out there in the world after all, and you know our child is bound to be an individual! (I know, I know...everyone says that, lol)

So does a person's name determine what he will make of his life? Does it determine what job he will have? We don't think so, although several philosophers including Carl Jung have studied the intricacies of nominative determinism: "Are these the whimsicalities of chance, or the suggestive effects of the name [...] or are they 'meaningful coincidences'?" he asks. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism)

Some hilarious examples:

• Thomas Crapper, inventor of the ballcock
• Rollie Fingers, MLB pitcher
• Scott Speed, Formula One race car driver
• Lord Brain, neurologist

However, we don't believe that our Stormy is doomed to be a meteorologist or a tornado chaser, although that would be ok with us if he wanted to do either. On the other hand, we also don't believe his name will inhibit him from being a lawyer, a politician, an architect, or anything else he wants to be. Yeah, maybe he sounds like a musician already, and perhaps that's what he'll want do with his life, but we're pretty sure that given all the options and education we can provide, he can choose a life and career suited to his passions, not his name.

Baby Shower

The baby shower given to my by two of my sisters-in-law, Amy and Susie, was just adorable!

Here's the proof:

Mom pinning on my corsage, watch out now!

A beautiful table setting!



Monkey-topped diaper cake!


Amy's drink station, lol!

Invitation and favors!

Adorable decorations and a framed pic of our little dude!


Time for guests and gifts!



Amy and Susie keeping track, thank goodness! ^^^

Michaela was a big help with the gifts!

The shower was wonderful overall. There was a ton a good food, and the cake was amazing! I got just about everything I needed, and even Adam got some gifts of his own. Well, he has to share with the baby, but you know... haha. It was a great day to spend with friends and family!