Giving Thanks

Hello to everyone who checks in with our blog occasionally! Since this is the week of Thanksgiving, what better time to say "Thank You" to everyone for all the love and support you've given us as we embark on this family-expanding adventure! We are truly blessed to be so enveloped by you all.

We are thankful for our health, your health, and our belly-dweller's apparent health. I am now 34 weeks 4 days along and cannot believe that means we're a mere 6 weeks (give or take) from meeting this mystery bundle! Wow. I guess it's seemed like a long 9 months as much as it seems the time has flown by... crazy. Our next appointment is in 2 weeks on Wed Dec 2nd, so as of right now, no new medical updates. I'll be sure to update the blog again after that appointment to let you all know how things went. At that appointment the doctor is going to check to see if the baby is head-down and ready and rarin' to go! Since she'll be doing a mini-ultrasound to check that status, she said she'd TRY to see if she can figure out the gender, but I'm not convinced that our modest little one will share. heh heh... Though, the lady at our local Chinese restaurant told me with no uncertainty, that we are having a boy. Who needs those silly ultrasounds anyways?! ;)

For those of you checking our shutterfly album of belly updates, these pictures won't be news to you, but here's a picture of my belly at 34 weeks, and then a couple pictures of the nursery!





Happy Thanksgiving!
love,
the willies

Nursery? Check!

My husband rules.

Last weekend we picked up our crib and dresser combo tower changing table thingy (technical term) at Direct Buy only to find out that they were both in lots of pieces and it would require quite the assembly to get them together. My heart sunk a little because of course I wanted to run home and have the nursery all set up so I could play house... but then I knew that I'd have to be patient and wait for Ryan to want to put them together, and not nag. And guess what!?! Not nagging totally worked! He decided last Sunday to put the dresser thing together, so we got that done right away! And that was a DOOZIE. We got done with the basical frame of it, which was quite time consuming as it was, and he goes "why are there still so many parts?", to which I had to say "oh, we have to put together the drawers..."... HAHAHA! Poor guy. But we got that done and look, FABNESS!!!


And then just last night he started in on the crib, so we got that all put together last night and now we have ourselves a nursery!!!! Here's a pic of the crib. Perty, huh? And yes, we're going to raise up the mattress, we didn't realize it was so low till we finished and by then we were ready for bed, so we'll raise it up this weekend :)


So now we just have to buy detergent and wash the sheets and baby clothes and stuff and that nursery will be ready for our little bundle's arrival! Yay! I also want to hang some pictures and move others around and stuff, so still some fun decorating to do, but for the most part, we're good to go! And ahead of the game, too! Yahoo! I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I heart my husband.

Today is our 32 week check-up, so I'll keep ya posted on how that goes! Gee, I can't wait to get on the scale. Yikes! HAHAHA! I think this baby is going to weigh 15 pounds... HA!

Love yuz!
*alliwilli

Post 32 wk OB appt update:
Let's skip right over my weight, shall we? And move along to the baby's heartrate, which was super strong, we heard it the second she put the doppler thingy on my belly, no searching around for it! It was at about 140bpm. And my belly measures in at 34cm, which means the baby is growing and growing well! (Maybe it WILL be a 15 pound baby? Please Lord, no.) All is well in the belly!

Our Baby Shower

Wow. Thank you doesn't even begin to tell people what I feel in terms of gratitude for the shower that was given in our honor this past weekend. I was SO completely overwhelmed by how much was going into the shower and how many people wanted to help put it together, I was literally shaking and burst into tears when I got to my mom's condo before heading over to the clubhouse with Megan. And yep, I cried afterwards, too. It was just SO wonderful! I think it probably doesn't help that my hormones are on over-drive... ha!

Anyways, the shower was held this past Sunday, October 25th at the Dancing Willows Clubhouse (the clubhouse at my parents' condo complex). It was a big gorgeous room with a huge fireplace and a great big granite island covered in delicious grub. There was a table right as you entered the clubhouse with a huge and fabulous gDiaper "cake", my belly journal for browsing, and the baby book that Emilia got me, so that people could sign it. :) The other 3 tables were covered in scrapbooking goodness. At first I didn't understand what was going on, but then learned that throughout the shower the gals would be working on each making one page for a scrapbook for Baby Willi. Each gal chose a theme that they think represents us or our growing family, and made a page that will later be populated by pictures we take with the new addition! It was an AMAZING idea! How clever! I loved it!!!!

Then, we were literally "showered" with gifts... we got SO much good stuff! Diapers, wipes, butt-cream, strollers, rocker, cradle, sheets, bedding, stuffed animals, onesies, snug-sacks, books and even WINE!!!

If you want to see pictures from the shower itself, I hope to get some from Aunt Peggy tomorrow, but in the meantime, my friend Carmine posted some wonderful ones on her blog, so feel free to browse The Heilig Family Journey for those!

Here are some pictures once we got the goods back to our house and started putting things into the empty nursery...

The no longer empty bookcase:


The cradle that I was lulled to sleep in as a newborn, fixed up and ready to go, along with the rocking chair I was fed in as a newborn, with a fabulous newly upholstered cushiony set up:


The stained glass that Ryan's mom was given at HIS baby shower, now hanging on our belly-dweller's door:


And some wall art we got from my mum:



A BIG HUGE Thank You goes out to EVERYONE who contributed to our growing family, but especially to the following gals who planned and executed such an AMAZING, thoughtful, and creative shower: Grandma-to-be-Terry, Grandma-to-be-Mary, Auntie-to-be-Meg, Carmine, Nichole, Alicia, and Anna... and thank you also to Peggy who flew out from Florida to be with us! Also, I must thank Elisa for helping me register, without her, all I would have had on my registry was Mortimer the Moose. :)

Also, my mum DROVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY for this shower... she drove out to bring us the cradle and rocker, among other things, and then just this morning is flying back. I will miss having her around! We did lots of fun nesting projects and just had a wonderful time together. I look forward to lots of quality time during my maternity leave as well. It's nice to know she'll be coming back in a mere 2 months, almost to the day, to be here for the birth of Baby Willi! Thank you mum! Love you bunches!

As always, I've updated the Dward Family Shutterfly page with new belly pictures... so enjoy those as well!

Anyways, we are so full of love and gratitude from our shower and know we have all the support we need as we approach the last 10 weeks of our pregnancy... so thank you to everyone, we love you all!
~Ryan, Alli & Baby Willi~

28 weeks... The 3rd Trimester... YAY!

Well hello! Yes, it's been a while! No news is good news, right? :)

So we had our 28 week OB appointment last Friday, October 9th, and everything seems to be healthy! Hooray! My BP is fabulous, and let's not talk about my weight gain, with the exception of saying that the doctor and nurse both told me separately that I'm doing great. Phew! The mystery baby's heartrate is in the low 140s at this point, so when Dr. Gibson threw her guess into the baby-gender-pool, she guessed Team Pink. So we'll see!

This doc visit was also the big Glucose Tolerance Test visit... whoppee! It meant peeing in a cup, then guzzling a sugary cocktail and then waiting for an hour and then having blood drawn to compare glucose levels. I passed! Hooray! Excellent. Must be all that candy corn training I do... I scoff at their tolerance test, gimme a real challenge people. ;) Sure, it was nasty, but after my sugar coma passed, I was ready to finish off some festive Brach's Pumpkins... bring it on. HA!

Other baby news? Well, let's see now... we've started to receive gifts from people who won't be able to join us for the shower next weekend, so that's always exciting! And we also placed our order at Direct Buy for the car seat, extra base, crib, dresser and mattress. And already the car seat, extra base and mattress have arrived here at the house! Very exciting. The nursery is very empty right now, I can't wait for the arrival of my mum on Wednesday (the 21st) with the cradle and rocking chair, and for the arrival of the crib and dresser so we can really get this party started!

Last week I got to spend time with my fabulous old friend Emilia and her newborn, Lucia Rose, who is just a DOLL. So amazing to think how far we've come since we met... oh boy, maybe I shouldn't relive my college memories on this "family friendly" blog... but let's just say, we're a long way from St. Mary's College right now, both married and moms (or moms-to-be!)!!! Crazy-talk. But her husband agreed that we're still the same 2 girls... giggly and silly as ever.

Other family news? Randy (Ryan's Dad) started his chemo treatment this week, on Monday, and seems to be doing pretty well with it. I believe he has his next treatment this coming Monday, so that might be a bit tougher, being the 2nd round right on top of the 1st. And then I think he has a week off for recovery before another 2 rounds back-to-back again. So all seems well right now on that front, we'll keep you posted as he gets further along in his treatments.

Well, I'll leave you with a picture of me at 28 weeks... oy vey! Look at that belly!!! :)


best as always,
*alliwilli

A Poll...

So, since most probably we won't find out the gender of my belly-dweller until game-day, let's do a poll!

Leave a comment and let us know if you think we're having a boy or a girl!

If you want to see pictures of me and the bump to help in the decision-making, they're posted to shutterfly.

Love,
Alli & Ryan

Not much to report!

Well hello! Not much news here, just wanted to check in so ya'all know we're alive and kickin' (quite literally for the littlest member of our family! ha!). The baby is indeed moving around in there! I love it! I absolutely adore feeling it move. To me it's just a nice little message s/he's sending on up saying "hi mom! I'm okay!"... :)

We still don't know the gender, and probably won't be finding out prior to his/her arrival, so we're preparing for the unknown. We have started registering for baby goods at 2 stores: Pottery Barn Kids and Babies R Us. My mom and Ryan's mom are planning our baby shower for Sunday, October 25th with a lot of help from so many wonderful girlfriends. I'm sure there are more cooks in the kitchen than can fit, but all the help is very much appreciated and I know just how much I'm loved and how much this baby will be loved... *Warm Fuzzy*...

I'm still attempting to be active, so I'm doing a lot of DVD workouts in the basement, and am also doing some run/walking outdoors. My endurance is definitely waning, but I know it's because this wonderful little baby is pushing on my lungs and that's a-ok with me... keep growing, baby! Keep taking over my innards! HA!

So that's really all that's fit to print on the baby front... here's a picture of me at 24 weeks, my belly is definitely starting to make an appearance!


In other family news, Ryan's dad was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer in the last couple weeks so we're trying to cope with that and be as helpful as possible to he and also to Megan & Mike who are able to be of the utmost help to him since they are closer. Say some prayers that the cancer was isolated and removed in surgery on Aug 31st and that the chemo he'll be receiving over the next few months is more of a precautionary measure than anything else. Also keep Mike in your thoughts as the doctors try to figure out what is causing his occasional seizures.

Really though we are doing wonderfully and are feeling well and are happy and enjoying the slightly cooler fall weather. Fall for us means one more season of softball till winter hits (for Ryan, that is, I've officially hung up my cleats till next spring), the beginning of indoor Flag Football for Ryan, Fantasy Football and NFL Sunday goodness, Candy Corn, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and cooler weather (for me, phew).

We hope you all are well... as always I'm uploading my belly pictures to our Dward Family Shutterfly site, feel free to browse!
as always,
the willies

22 weeks and Counting...

So this weekend I hit 22 weeks while back in Stockbridge, MA at my parents' house... I traveled back for my best friend from high school, Becky's wedding. It was fabulous. I was worried about how flying would treat me, but I was able to get isle seats on my longer flights, so I was able to stand up and move around and hit the restroom every 45 mins or so, just to keep the blood pumpin'. So that was good! I started to freak whenever I'd see mothers traveling with babies or toddlers alone since I know that'll be in my future at least a couple times... holy crap-to-haul batman. Yikes. However, my travels treated me well and I just ended with swollen ankles. HA!

I spent Friday evening/night with my family, Tim grabbed the famous wings from The Forge in Pittsfield and brought those home and Dad complimented those with lots of other goodies for dinner including grilled shrimp and grilled chicken strips, whole wheat bread and apple olive oil for dipping... yum-o. And of course, chocolate brownie low fat ice-cream for dessert. heh heh... I can always count on Dad. :)

Saturday was low key all day, watched a lot of the Ted Kennedy services and did the Jumble and Crossword with Sean & Tim... oh, and Tim's friend Dan, who decided on a name for our munchkin if it's a boy... Sergeant Roadhouse Williams... um yeeeaaahhh, okay thanks. HAHAHAA! Then Saturday afternoon was Becky's wedding, so I had to get all dolled up in my giant maternity pantyhose and my cute little maternity Gap dress... and then picked up my "date", Sarah, and off we went! The ceremony was beautiful, at Ford Hill Farm in Sheffield, MA, with gorgeous views of the rolling Berkshire mountains... then the reception was at a cute little BBQ place called the Route 7 Grill. Yum.

Before setting out to pick up my hot date, my dad made me stand in front of the fireplace for pictures, just like he used to do on the first day of school or before a school dance... HA! Ah memories... :) Hilarious but great! Here's a shot of me before I left, belly and all...


Then Sunday after Tim and I had a good workout at the gym, I helped my parents prep for the family cookout, and then folks started rolling in between 1 and 2pm. It was a nice crowd of folks... not so many that we couldn't all catch up with one another, but a good bunch to keep the conversation going for hours. Funny how the men and women segregated pretty quickly when the talk turned to babies... HAHAHA! Marilyn and Kathy had us take a picture that was "4 generations", kinda of... Nana, Mum, Me and my bump :)


Then on Monday after mum and I took the doggies for a nice long walk, I was returned to the the airport and on my way home.

Things are going well for me, but keep Ryan and his family in your thoughts and prayers... health concerns are abound... Megan's husband Mike is having inexplicable seizures, so they are doing tests upon tests on him to see what's causing them, and then Ryan's dad, Randy, had a tumor removed from his bladder yesterday and it's being biopsied this week to see if it is cancerous or not; here's to hoping for not. We're Fort Collins-bound tonight to bring up some dinner for tonight and the rest of the week because Randy is going to be recovering at Meg's. So anyways, just keep them in your thoughts as they cope with all this medical turmoil. Thanks!

Hope all is well with whomever is out there reading... :)
xo
alliwilli