She's a Small Pumpkin...40 Week Update!

Today I am 40 weeks along in my pregnancy. Today is baby girls' official due date and as you'd probably guess, she hasn't decided to make her grand appearance yet. So, here I am at 40 weeks...



Fun Baby Facts:


According to babycenter.com, Baby girl is about 7 1/2 pounds (the weight of a small pumpkin) and is about 20 inches long. Herskull bones are not yet fused, which will allow them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. As long as baby girl is in my belly, her hair and nails will continue to grow, and her lungs will keep developing.


How Am I Doing?


I am 40 weeks pregnant...how would you be doing? Let's just put it this way...I cannot imagine how my belly could get any bigger or that my feet could swell any more. Up to this point, I have had no contractions but every part of my body aches.


Ray's mom was here last week and was a huge blessing, as she cleaned, cooked and began packing boxes. Saturday night my mom flew in and Ray's dad showed up a few days early to help Ray with the work we're doing on the house. It's been really nice having the extra hands around to get help get things done.


The last few days my mom and I have walked, eaten spicy food, walked, cleaned, shopped, walked some more...you would think that combination we would've started to get a little closer to seeing baby girl, but so far, no such luck. I guess she's going to be a little stubbong like her mama and is going to come on her own schedule. My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow morning, so we will see what the doctor says and find out how long they will let me go before inducing.


Ray has made a ton of progress on the new house this week...painting, patching holes, fixing some of the electrical and other little things around the house. Tomorrow he and his dad will start on sanding and refinishing the hard wood floors throughout the house. I'll post some "progress" pictures tomorrow.


We're anxious and all ready for baby girl to come. Hopefully she'll come soon!


Blessings,
Ray, Summer & Baby Girl

Zekan Lane

Here are pictures of our new house...AKA our work in progress...Let me give you a tour...

Our first day owning the house...Ray opening the door for the first time...

A few pictures of the front of the house...

Our second day with the house...first day of remodel...

The kitchen...

The previous owners had converted the garage into two rooms to use for the day care they owned...this is the first room...

This is the second room in the garage...

The also added a sun room addition to the very back of the house...

Entrance to the dining room/living room from the sun room...

View of living room from dining room...

Dining Room...

Living Room...

View from front door...Towards the living room... Kitchen is to right and upstairs and downstairs to right...

Heading upstairs...

Baby Girls Room...When it's finished it will NOT be pink...

Upstairs hallway...

Guest Room #1

Guest Room #2...this will be one of the last rooms to be redone...it's in pretty rough shape. The previous owners had a BIG dog and this was his room...it's a disaster...

Guest Bath...Full bathroom...

Master Bedroom...it's painted a mustard yellow color...this will be changed!

Master Bath

Heading downstairs to the lower level...

Family Room...

Hallway on lower level...

Half Bath

Room in lower level...this will be converted into a larger laundry/utility room and an office...

Back yard and back of house...The previous owners ran a day care out of the house and still have a bunch of playground stuff in the yard. This is being removed.

Well, that's a quick tour of our new house. There's a lot of work to be done. We're going to do a great deal of it before we actually move in. As we finish rooms, I'll update with new pictures...

Now, if we can just convince baby girl to come...

Blessings,
Ray, Summer and Baby Girl

We Are Homeowners!

It is official...

The journey and process of buying our first home came to a successful end today!

We are homeowners and are totally blessed by the opportunity to own such a beautiful house!

Below is a picture of the house that I took back in April. I will post more pictures later this week...

While, overall, the house is in good, liveable condition, it still needs a great deal of TLC. With the close arrival of baby girl, we're taking our time moving into the new house. Tomorrow we'll be having the house cleaned, carpets cleaned and then Ray will start painting and repairs. Next week floors will be refinished and we'll go from there.

We are very excited and I can't wait until we get fully moved in and settled!

Thanks to all those who have been praying for us through the season of looking for and purchasing a home. It's been quite the journey and Ray and I are very, very grateful for all those who were involved!

She's A Mini Watermelon...Week 39!

Today I am 39 Weeks! Baby Girl could be here any day!

39 Weeks

39 Weeks

Fun Baby Facts:

Baby girl continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (My doctors think she's actually a little bit on the smaller side...more like 6 pounds instead of 7...we will find out soon!) The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath. All of her organs are developed and in place.

How Am I Doing/What's New This Week?

Besides swelling in my hands and feet, I'd have to say that I'm feeling pretty good. I'm tired and the simple daily tasks are getting harder and harder, but I'm still capable of doing mostly everything I need to do.

This past Thursday I started working from home. This has been really great! I mean, who can complain about working from home, in bed, with my PJ's on!? I'm really blessed that I've got great support at work, that they are allowing me to work from home right now!

Ray's mom is also here right now. She's been a huge blessing...cleaning, doing laundry, packing boxes, even cooking! While, to be honest, I get REALLY frustrated about people doing things for me and telling me to sit and take it easy, it's been great to have the option to relax!

We are closing on our new house this week. YEAH!!!! We were scheduled to close on Monday, but it's been pushed back to either Tuesday or Wednesday. I can't believe we're going to be homeowners this week!!!! It's been a long process, so we are super excited that it's about to be over! I'll post pictures later this week, once we have the keys to the house. As ready as we are for baby girl to come, we're hoping she holds off until after we close this week.

Last night our good friends, Dana & Jessica, welcomed into the world, their newest addition - Gavin James.

Gavin James, Born 6:58pm
7 lbs 3 oz, 19 inches long

That's all for now...I'll give a quick update in a few days, after close on the house and after my doctors appoint Tuesday morning...

Blessings,
Ray, Summer & Baby Girl

She's A Leek...Week 38!

Today I am 38 weeks and baby girl is close to the size of a leek (in length).

38 Weeks

38 Weeks

Fun Baby Facts:

Baby girl has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp and her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

How Am I Doing?

I can't believe that I've been doing these weekly updates for 21 weeks now. And even more, I can't believe that baby girl will be here sometime in the next few weeks.

I'm still continuing to have really bad heartburn in the evenings and sometimes in the mornings. My weekly doctor's appointments have been going well. At last weeks appointment I was only 50% effaced with no dilation yet. My next appointment is tomorrow morning - we shall see if there's been any progress. The swelling in my hands and feet have continued to be really bad too. Many days, by early afternoon, I have to take my rings off and you can't see the bones in my ankles.

This past Saturday Ray surprised me and took me to Wolf Trap to see Cats. Wolf Trap is an amazing venue - all outside. The stage itself is covered...sort of like a pavilion. This was our first time going to Wolf Trap. It was a hot day, but we had a great time!

View from our seats before the show started...

Last week I also did the second part of out maternity photo shoot. Our photographer, Heather of Captiva Photography, did an amazing job (as usual)! This weekend she finished processing our photo's. She posted many of our pictures on her blog. Click here to view them.

Here's just a few of some of the ones we love...(It's going to be so hard to pick which ones to have developed because they all turned out amazing!)...

Ray and I really wanted to represent the city we live in through our pictures...I'd say the above picture definitely portrays where we live!

At the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background..

Me at the Lincoln Memorial...

This one is on the lawn at the Capitol...

Also on the lawn of the Capitol with the Washington Monument in the background...

Me in the most amazing field that Heather found just for the second part of my photo shoot!

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer and closer to baby girl to join us!

Blessings,
Ray, Summer & Baby Girl