I am very ready to greet my new little sweetheart! My bags are packed, we have Jonathan's caretakers lined up, to do list's are pretty much checked off...I'm ready to do this!
At my 36 week appt a couple of weeks ago, my doctor measured Ben for the first time. - For those who don't know how this is done...basically, on the sonogram, my doctor measures Ben's femur bone, tummy circumference, and head circumference. Some how the computer takes this info and guess-timates how much the baby weighs. - So at my 36 week appt, Ben was weighing in at an estimated 6 lbs 13 oz! That is about 1 pound bigger for an 'average' baby at 36 weeks! The next week I went back in and he measured again and this time Ben was estimated at 7 lbs 15 oz!!! WHAT?? At his rate of growth, my doctor warned me that it is possible he could be close to 10 lbs when he is born at 39 weeks! BUT, as I said, it's a computer guessing, so it can be wrong, but I tell you what, he feels like an 8 pounder right now! Yikes! Today was my 38 week appt, he didn't measure him, but he showed me on my tummy where Ben's head is, where his bottom is and where his feet are. My doctor was so funny, his eyes got real big and he said, "Julie, you got one big baby in there! You are literally ALL baby!" ...all this to say we already have a nick name for our precious little boy, "BIG BEN"! :)
Besides his size, he is looking very healthy! Everything is what it should be or better. I am feeling a little weak these days, he is taking everything I have to give and then some. At my 37 week appt, I had lost 2 lbs and that is when he gained just over 1 lbs. This week I hadn't gained or lost and I had increased my eating to 5 meals a day! It's just amazing to me how all this works!
I will be in touch with updates once he is born! Next Friday, April 29th around 7:00 am is the projected arrival time! Just a couple of hours after William and Kate are married! Ha!
The past few months Michael, Jonathan and I have been working on getting the nursery ready for Ben. There wasn't too much to do, since we kept everything pretty much the same, at least furniture wise. We changed the theme of the nursery to Maps. For those of you who don't know, Michael, my husband, makes maps for a living. When I met Michael the only thing that he had hanging on his walls were maps. I liked them, they are cool, but, 8 years later when we bought our house, I was ready to look at something different. (sorry) When we were contemplating nursery themes, it occurred to me that we have a ton of maps in storage! Michael and I both love them and it just seemed right! We are very pleased with the end result and can't wait for the last piece of the puzzle to arrive and live here!
 |
| I came up with the idea that I wanted to do a map decoupage of Benjamin's name. I had so much fun doing this! I can't wait for my next decoupage project! As I started, I didn't have a rhyme or reason. I grabbed the N and just started gluing map strips to it. Then I realized, there was a letter that represented each member of my family. So to make it more fun and even more personalized, each letter is tied to a family member and has specific places in Texas! - Sorry they aren't the best pictures of each of the letters. Just come over to see them in person! |
 |
| B is for Bill, my father. I included Corpus Christi, where we lived in the late '70's early '80's. Also, I made sure that I kept Victoria, a little town just north of Corpus, in the mid '80's we almost moved there (I was disappointed that we didn't) Arkansas is on there because both my father's parents are from Arkansas. Austin was one of my dad's favorite places to visit, yet he never lived there. I made sure that Salado was still on the map, another one of dad's favorite places to visit! |
 |
| E is for Ewert. Michael and Me, plus Theron and Pat. I included the mid-cities area, which is where Michael and I met and still live today. I included Dallas, which is where Michael was raised by Theron and Pat. The bottom of the E includes Galveston, which is where I went on my first vacation with the Ewert's. We met in Galveston and then went on a cruise to Mexico. It was such a fun trip! I can't believe that was almost 10 years ago! |
 |
| N is for Nancy, my mother. I had a lot of fun with hers! Starting with the bottom left, that is a street level map of downtown Austin. Just like dad, Austin reminds me of mom too. We visited there a lot when I was a kid and mom would take Amy and I shopping in downtown Austin while dad did computer related things. Next to that is a street level map of Fort Worth of just Forest Park Dr, the route she and I took to my private school for junior high and high school. 1 hour round trip every day, that is when we got super close. We both agreed that Forest Park was our favorite part of our drive. Then there is a map of Fort Worth. Then there is a map of El Paso, where she lived most of her life (dad did too). Then Wichita Falls, which is where we lived for most of the '80's. Then there is Kemah, that was the last fun place that mom and dad went together in June 2008 and they both loved it so much. Then you see mountains, which is actually a continuation of the El Paso map, I just didn't cut it off. I left them on because mom loved the mountains. |
 |
| J is for a little bit Julie, ME and a little bit Jonathan! Fort Worth, because that is where I lived most of my life. Shreveport, LA, for many reasons, but basically because I really like going there, but also, that is where Michael and I were the weekend we found out we were pregnant with Jonathan!!! |
 |
| A is for Amy, my sister. I had a lot of fun with Amy's. She has lived in a lot of different places, so I tried my best to include them all! Stephenphville, where she attended Tarleton University. Houston, where she, mom and dad lived briefly right before I was born. Burleson, which is where she lives now and I made sure I included Joshua, because that is where Waylen is from. Then I was able to get Wichita Falls on hers too. Then there was a perfect strip of the map that had Irving and Euless, it's perfect, because that is the 2 cities that she and I were roommates out side of living with mom and dad. And that red Texas shape was just cool. |
 |
| M is for Michael, my husband. I included Lubbock, because he went to Texas Tech. There is Arlington, he lived there right before he and I met. Dallas, since that is where he grew up. Galveston, because that is our favorite place to go on a mini-vacation together. And Hunt Co. because he works for Hunt! |
 |
| I, doesn't really stand for anyone. So I used more Fort Worth maps since I had it. |
 |
| This N doesn't stand for anyone either. This is the first one I worked on and didn't have a game plan yet. |
 |
| Michael and Jonathan reading. Sorry it's kind of a mess, that is my hospital suit case that I have all in the corner with stuff stacked on it. |
 |
| I was so glad that the beautiful curtains my mom made, originally for Jonathan's nursery would still work for Ben's! |
 |
| My grandpa Dale Ramage (who I never met) cross stitched the US map to the left. My aunt Holly painted the bible verse to the right. I am so glad to have such special items to had down to my boys. |
No comments:
Post a Comment