Countdown Not for New Years

but to meeting our Little Lady!

This afternoon I had my 2nd to last appointment before the BIG day. I have to confess my appointments are a little boring. Hands down, the most exciting and most anticipated appointment for any pregnant couple is the finding-out-the-sex-of-the-baby ultrasound appointment. But since then, my appointments go something like this: pee in a cup, then get weighed and have my blood pressure checked.  Then I go into the room and when Dr Kung comes in we listen to the heartbeat and she measures my bump and then we have a little chat. I never really have any issues or complaints to talk about. I also have so few questions. I guess I feel between the books I have, and my amazing friends (Amanda and Andrea) who have so much experience to pull from, that I just kind of blank when it comes to talking to my Doctor about anything, but again, I haven't had any complications. I feel very lucky.

Also, my weight gain has been unbelievable, I mean I'm not even trying to watch what I eat and at 35 weeks I've gained 24lbs and I only have a little more than 2 weeks before she is born, so I don't think I'll blow up by then. I drink so much water, and don't really have an appetite after lunch. I think it's because my digestion is so slow that I'm still full from lunch and dinner just doesn't sound good. I try to eat a little bit but that's about it. I also try to take a walk after dinner and before bed every day, to digest and get some fresh air all to help me sleep better. I haven't really had acid indigestion more than a handful of times either. Biggest complaint is that I drink so much water that I wake up to pee many times at night and it's getting harder and harder to flip side to side, takes a lot of effort and I can't sleep on my back.

Well anyhow, enough about me, today was a productive day, our Christmas present from my Dad is finishing up our little side yard, with rocks along the side of the house and pipes for the sump pump, I think it will be done in another day or so, then we won't have a clay/muddy mess on the side of the house once it starts raining. Actually speaking of rain, we have had NONE, it is dry dry dry! No snow in Tahoe either, except the man made stuff, so now I don't feel so bad that I might not ski at all this year. I also decided to hire a cleaning service since it's getting tough to drag the vacuum around and bend over in general, so they came today and the house is so clean....let's see how long it will stay this way..(rolling my eyes). I think I'm going to have them come either every 2 or 3 weeks.

Yes I guess I'm nesting a bit but I'm constantly cleaning stuff out and reorganizing around the house so that's nothing new. Today I started stocking up on some of my personal items and household items but then I decided I will have Jonas or my Mom to run down the street to the store, so I'm just going to relax the next few weeks before Elsa get's here. My final "pre-op" appointment is on the 6th. Jonas and I are going to take a tour of labor and deliver on the 4th, and a newborn care class on the 7th and then on the 17th she will be here! My Dr told me today that she is going to want to do the c-section early like at 7:30am, which is fine with me!

Anyhow, Jonas and I have absolutely no plans for New Years Eve and that is fine with me! << Ok my Mom just called me as I was typing this sentence to invite Jonas and I over for New Years Eve dinner! How funny!>> I accepted, so I guess that's what we will do and I promise, we will both be in bed as the rest of the West Coast rings in 2012!

Merry Christmas!

Taken at my parents house on Christmas Eve!

Just a cozy night with the family and a few presents, nothing too exciting.

For every good day I have it is then followed by a very tired and "not feeling good day".

Today I am not feelings so good, and Jonas just got called into work, unbelievable!

So he was going to take care of dinner since I wasn't feeling good and now I somehow have to find the energy to do it all myself, and who know when he'll even be home.

Oh well, he is a hard working, loyal guy and I love that about him!

Bigger and Bigger

Everyone has said that my stomach would really pop out the last few weeks and they were right! Sometimes I feel like I'm going to explode, especially after I eat. I can't eat that much, there is no where to put it, so I usually wake up hungry at 3am, and then I eat a yogurt or have a glass of milk and then go back to bed and try to sleep. "Try" is the key word there, I wake up every couple of hours to go to the bathroom, or I just can't fall back to sleep!?

Oh well it will ALL be worth it! Jonas and I are so excited to meet our little girl!

As I sit here and type this she is moving around and very active, it's all so exciting, and we feel very blessed this Holiday Season!

33 Weeks and too tired to shop for Christmas

Well, an update....let's see, tired tired tired. Jonas has had a head cold, I haven't gotten sick but feel like somebody drugged me because I have to take multiple naps through the day and sleeping at night is just tough! I wake up every hour or so, and I have to roll over because my hips hurt, and my shoulders. Then our cats decide to wake up at 5am and start playing, chasing, making tons of noise so at that point I just get up. I tried to do some Christmas shopping yesteday and that lasted a whole hour before I was too tired and just came home and took a nap and then I baked sugar cookies, yum!

We got all the paperwork in the mail for the c section, January 17th it's getting so close! We also got the package in the mail for the stem cell blood banking we are going to do for Elsa. This way we have a stem cell match for her and any other kids we have if they ever get one of these diseases that are treatable with stem cells.

Otherwise, not much else is going on. I know Christmas is next week and it is SO hard to shop for my parents, plus we have no money right now after hosting our Christmas party/baby shower, our water bill, our mortgage and well I went ahead and bought the matching dryer to our washing machine, because it was on sale for Black Friday. Our old dryer smelled like something was on fire every time we used it, so I just went ahead and ordered the new one because I want all my ducks in a row for when the baby gets here.  I didn't want to risk a fire or break down in the middle of doing poopy baby laundry!

So, that's why I'm on the fence about spending another $600 or so getting some little things fixed on the car even though it would be the last duck in the row. You see, the hazard lights switch doesn't work, the window button got pushed down into the door in the back seat and there is a loose chip in the passenger side seat belt that may or may not set off the airbags in the event of an accident. That alone is $315 to fix...it's like NON STOP MAJOR EXPENSES!! WHEN WILL IT STOP....never, unfortunately, that's just life, it's always something.

We are getting/have gotten some things fixed around the house by my parents "for Christmas" so I can't complain. I am so thankful for them. Spencer, my brother, just closed on his new house and they are helping him out in some very nice ways as well. There is just so much going on in the Arton Family these days! Which brings me back to the major dilemna at hand, what to get them for Christmas, on a budget, when they can buy themselves anything they want. It's not like we have a baby yet to frame a picture of and give to them. I have no energy to shop, so now I completely understand why online shopping is so much more popular! I love Amazon, it's my new favorite website. Ok it's time for my morning nap....

32 weeks Pic

I should have taken a picture at 30 weeks so I had bump photos at 20, 25, 30 and 35 weeks but I've been so busy I have not remembered or had time. Today though is 32 weeks, and I thought ok I will put on all black and do it! So here you go, 32 weeks and growing! Just 5 more weeks left now!

Looking visibly tired!

Here is our Tiger (Mr T) who always wants to sit on my lap these days, or my belly, but for obvious reasons I had him off to the side but he still reached his little paws out to put them coincidentally in the spot Elsa always kicks or moves at! He's just too cute!

Holiday Shower/Baby Shower Pictures

Baby's Room

Ok, I know you have been patiently waiting for pictures of the finished baby's room! So here they are!

I'm still waiting for the pictures of the family for the frames I painted on the wall there!

Elsa's Birthday

Well  I talked with my Doctor on Monday at my appointment and we discussed the impending birth of our little Princess. She needed to consult with a specialist because of my Mayomectomy 4 years ago and she said she would get back to me. So after going back and forth with voicemails and a scheduler who had no idea what she was talking about I finally talked to Dr Kung. She said it was recommened that Elsa be born in week 37, that means sometime in the week of January 12th -19th. The next hurdle was that I was very specific with chosing my doctor and wanted to make sure she was going to be the one doing the c-section, so that eliminated the whole week. We could have done January 12th, which is Spencer's birthday or January 20th which is our good friend Ulrika's birthday, but she was not on Labor and Delivery and would therefore have to do the surgery on her lunch break, which may or may not be on time, or whatever, too many what if's. So, January 16th, Monday, she is on Labor and Delivery which means she will 100% be there to do the surgery. So there you have it, our little Elsa will be born on Monday January 16th, 2012.

Ok so other news, just busy prepping for our Advent Party & Baby Shower that is this Sunday the 4th. I think we are looking at around 40 people coming, wow! We are going to make lots of glogg, and have pepperkakkor, princeskagge, swedish meatballs, prinskorv, and many other goodies. I think it will be fun, but I know I will be tired afterwards and my good friend Amy is flying in for the weekend all the way from Philadelphia, that makes me feel special.  Then Jonas birthday is Tuesday, and the YSC Lucia is next Sunday, which I am in charge of so there is a lot going on right now, but come Monday December 12th, it is smooth sailing through the holidays and into the new year. And then we know what happens next right!?

New Photos

So we didn't get a whole lot of pic's out of our photoshoot because my belly just isn't that big, and our photographer, kind of didn't do what we wanted. I mean we got a few decent shots but I really wanted to show off what belly I do have. So the "teaser" picture I posted is the uber photoshopped pic, that both Jonas and I did not like. We don't look like us, we're older parents and we have wrinkles and we like our wrinkles! So I had Jonas redo some editing and this is what we got!

This is tasteful, right?

Just a Teaser!....

Baby Bump Photoshoot and...

Well what can I say, but this week went by fast! My brother is paragliding in Chile for all of this week and next week so I have been in the office with my Dad. Jonas is always busy at work, so all of a sudden now it is our lovely weekend before Thanksgiving. Today Jonas and I are driving to San Francisco to reconnect with my favorite photographer and take some pictures of me and Jonas and Elsa, kind of, you know of my belly! You can see his work on his website here -> http://www.billywinters.com/lifestyle/lifestyle.html . If you scroll all the way down to the right you can see one of our wedding pics he did! It's in a smaller one in the top left of four before the 3 Asian ladies. Anyhow, we shall see if these turn out good today?

Otherwise, not much progress made on the baby's room because I've been working this week and after dinner I pretty much go to bed these days, but I'm up early though! The only thing I did was buy one more thing for her room, eeek I know, I'm spoiling her already! But this is a magazine/book wall rack. I wanted this --> http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/classic-corner-cabinet/?pkey=e%7Cclassic%2Bcorner%2Bcabinet%7C1%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_- 

But it's kind of expensive, and we are trying to save money not spend it all! So instead I bought this;

It will be perfect behind the door, so we have a place to start collecting books. Eventually we will want and need a bookshelf. Luckily we have plenty of space for that and storage cabinet of some sort. So anyhow, that's about it for today.....will post some pics when we get them back from our photoshoot today!



10 weeks to go!

Yeah that's right, I'm in the home stretch! About 10 more weeks left of good nights sleep, just me and Jonas, and only wiping my own butt. I can't believe how fast the time has gone, and the next 6 weeks are so so so busy with our baby shower/holiday party, Scandinavian Club events, Lucia, the Scandinavian School benefit and Thanksgiving and Christmas that January is seriously right around the corner!

At my last Doctors visit I passed my gestational diabetes test and my blood work was normal, meaning no anemia or anything. I knew in my heart this would be a healthy pregnancy (even though I crave sugar).  I let one person I knew who had a tough pregnancy/delivery and miscarraiges kind of scare me, even though you just can't compare yourself to anybody else. Anyhow, all is well, I feel good, except my sciatica hurts really bad when I walk for a long time, but that's my only big complaint I'm willing to publicize =) But my Doctor is now saying Baby T could come anytime in January, especially if I go into labor on my own, then we have to take her out immediately, but the goal is to have the c section January 23rd or 24th which is 38 1/2 weeks. So I guess I can sadly say that Jonas and I will not be able to celebrate our 2nd anniversary on the 22nd of January up in Reno at the Silver Legacy with a day of skiing and a nice dinner ha ha!

So as for the progress of the baby's room, the changing table/dresser was delivered yesterday and it's just so perfect. Elsa's room is coming together. We're not quite done but there was no problem keeping our queen sized bed in there, plus crib, changing station and 2 nightstands, AND the giant rocker chair, yay! There is even some room for a bookcase. I will post a picture or two when it's more finished. Yesterday I washed all the crib sheets, and changing pad covers, and blankets that I've either bought(because Mommy is a shopaholic) or recieved as gifts and I think I am good in that category, meaning I don't need anymore. I also went through all the clothes I have accumulated for her and arranged them in piles by size. After many conversations with either random women in the Carters outlet store or my friends, it seems that the newborn size stuff really isn't necessary thus I only have a few things in that size and I have a TON of cute pjs/onezies in size 3 months, which is what I think she'll really be wearing until April/May. Then I probably will need a little more 6 month size, but I just wanted to be prepared for winter. I have 2 heavier snow/ cold weather suits for her first trip to Tahoe one of which has bear ears on the hood, it's super cute.  It's crazy to think about how big she will be when she is born,  21" long and 8lbs? Or 9lbs? If she's bigger rather than smaller, she will bypass all the newborn stuff and probably jump up to the 6 month size sooner rather than later. So, I've got receipts and tags on some of the stuff, but hoping to have another girl one day so I'll probably just keep it all anyhow!

So if for some reason Elsa was born today, I think I'd be almost ready. There are some things on our registry we definately need, like bottles, the newborn rocker/sleeper and formula (in case I have a problem with my milk letting down or she doesn't take to the breast). But otherwise we could manage now, we have the major things AND yesterday I was at Costco to buy cat food and the diapers and wipes were next to that, so I picked up a newborn "kit" with wipes, newborn diapers and size 1 diapers to get started. I'll admit that was kind of weird, and then I gave Jonas a newborn diaper to show him HOW SMALL they are, whoa. He is so excited though, I think that he has secretly wanted to be a Papa for a long time, and is just thrilled to meet little Elsa. Every night he lays his head on my belly and talks Swedish to her, one time she kicked his ear!

Anyhow my trip back to the East Coast to visit Amy in Philly was fun but exhausting, as we were out and about shopping all day long and that just wiped me out. The weather was great, and it is always nice to sit and gab with your best friend like it hasn't been a year since I last saw her. She is flying out for our Holiday Party/Baby Shower in 3 weeks and that will be a fun 3 days! We have a lot of people coming to our party, I'm kind of shocked, not sure where everyone will sit, hang out, children will play but we will make it cozy and fun for everyone!

Just a quick update

I have been very busy working in my Dad's office. I am really loving the real estate game, and without giving away too many family secrets I will just say, I am learning tons about developing, leasing and working with the government! This friday I am flying back to Philadelphia to visit my best friend in the world Amy! And Jonas has had his good friend Bjorn in town the last week and he leave this Friday as well to fly back to Sweden. They were in Yosemite most of last week taking photos, drinking beer and freezing their butts off at night!

Preschool already!?

As Elsa's arrival get's closer and closer, I think more and more about her education, her/our heritage, and how my involvement in the Scandinavian community here in the San Francisco area has always been near and dear to my heart because I am proud of who I am. The Scandinavian School in SF, http://www.scandinavianschool.org/ is a highly recognized pillar of the Scandinavian Community, where children go for day care up until age 5, and it is run in the Scandinavian way with home cooked meals and language emersion. So even though it is expensive and it is in the city (a good 30 minute drive from us) I think that Jonas would be able to drop her off and pick her up at least 2 days a week. This would give Elsa more time to practice and use Swedish and maybe Danish, for us to meet other Scandinavian parents with children the same age as her and a wholesome Swedish childhood. I know it looks really undiverse but the reality is that is what it is like in Sweden. Anyhow I thought I would share this video the school made so you can see how nice it looks!

I also read over the application for admission, and they accept applications after your child is born. That sounds crazy, but I think I'm going to send hers in as soon as she is born! I am hoping that since the women who run the school know me through my involvement with the Young Scandinavaians Club and Lucia and know Jonas because he is involved in the SACC with is boss Nils, that they will have no choice but to accept lille Elsa! I am thinking when she is around 2 to put her in 2 or 3 days a week, because at that time I hope we have a newborn and it would be helpful for my sanity to have her in daycare....whoa, talk about forward planning! hee hee

25 Weeks Baby Bump Pic!

In the last 5 weeks my belly has definately grown!

Baby Stuff

I figure that only giving you a boring fence update means I need to give you a juicy blog entry about something to do with Elsa. So, Jonas and I went to Pottery Barn Kids, and ordered our crib and dresser/changing table last week. (thanks Mom and Dad!) I decided on PBK because it's high quality, made in the USA, sure it's expensive but to last for hopefully 3 kids, I wanted solid wood, and not some mystery wood that leaches chemicals from Ikea(sorry sweden). I thought it might be too early to order this stuff, like January seems way off,  but I'm glad I did NOT wait. The first reason is when we went in, it happened to be the first day of the Friends and Family sale so we got an extra 20% off everything except the dresser bc it has to be ordered, and secondly it's backordered until November 28th! I think we can pick up the crib this week. With the extra discount from the sale I was able to add in the mattress, chaning pad, breathable bumper, and a few changing pad covers that all in all added up to the same amount as just the crib and dresser would have been! 
So here is the crib we ordered. I decided on white finally, after debating in my head between the dark wood and the white, but in the end the baby's room is already pretty dark, so the white furniture will pop and it's pretty gender neutral considering Elsa is only the first of how many?

Fillmore Dresser as we ordered it with changing pad etc

I have also ordered crib sheets, white, a light shade of green and this wild flower pattern which I received in the mail the other day and I just love! 2 of the 4 walls in the baby's room are a bright orange that I painted last year to add some pizazz to the boring cream colored walls. I figure orange is also gender neutral and I really don't feel like repainting to pink or lavender.  Which bye the way seem to be the only 2 colors that all the baby girl stuff comes in! I am trying to pop other colors into the design. White, blues, lime greens, orange etc... so here are the sheets I am obsessed with, almost want to order a second one!

I did NOT however buy the bumper, I don't believe it is necessary for an infant.

I think it will all come together nicely. I also picked up 3 solid wood slightly used Pottery Barn white shelves from a family on Craigslist so once we figure out where everything fits then we can put the shelves up. For now we I need to move our strollers and other stuff that I have piled up in that room to the garage because Jonas friend from Sweden is coming into town Sunday night, Bjorn, and he is going to stay in that room for the next week or so!

Lattice topped fence

Before and After's of the fence






Now out of boredom I was looking back at my post in March when it was pouring but Spring and the plants were all so small and to look at it now!

nothing exciting but..

Elsa is a kicker! I mean even as I write this after lunch, I'm sitting in my Dad's office,(because I am working here now) and yes she is making my stomach bounce around! I don't think that how a fetus acts in utero is any indication of their personality but I'm sure this little lady will have sass and "artitude" a word a friend of mine coined in highschool!

Anyhow, this weekend Jonas finished putting the lattice on top of our new fence,  and it looks great! We really do live in a compound now! Then Saturday night we went to the Swedish Achievement Awards, a black tie affair, that started too late for me! We cut out early, like 10pm early, but it was nice, they took this pic of us, it's a weird angle, and I really don't want to admit that my face might be getting a little ummmm heavier now that I'm in the end of month 6 and almost to month 7.

Something about this picture reminds me of my Mom. Speaking of which, we went through some old pictures of my Mom, and I compared some of these toddler pictures of her to mine, and I can't wait to line up Elsa's next to these and a few of mine!

Lastly, and I know my Mom will get mad at me for posting this, but WOW she was quite the stylish lady in the mid 60's! I love love love this picture of her, and I wonder HOW did she get her hair so high!!??

Couldn't Resist!

Knowing that I am having a little girl, and knowing that I love clothes, well,..almost a deadly combo for Jonas's paychecks haha! I couldn't resist buying some things so far. I just received in the mail a few Polarn O Pyret (a swedish company who makes baby/toddler/expecting Mom's clothing) items I ordered a few weeks ago, and at a much bigger discount than when I'm in sweden. Anyhow here are some pictures I had to share! The Glider is also a recent purchase, it's an Xtra large Dutalier glider/rocker chair with ottoman I picked up on Craigslist for less than half the retail price, because it is used, but it really seems brand new! Jonas and I both love sitting in it!

I didn't buy the purple hoodie and these funky Danish leggings as an outfit, they just happened to match!

How Many Shots to get a good one?

Taken 10/1/2011 at our friends Charles and Laura's wedding in South lake tahoe.