Toot Toot!

I'm not typically one who toots my own horn, but there's a few accomplishments that I'm pretty happy about that I'd like to share. First of all, I'm finally going to graduate. Yes, it took forever, but life isn't always perfect and rarely does it go according to plan. But despite the setbacks, I did it (here's my website which is always in progress). And with a baby. A very active baby. One who thinks hour long naps are sufficient. One who also thinks that my attention should be fully focused on him at all times. A baby who decided that after getting one tooth, he should go through the hellish process all over again to get another one the two weeks before my final project was due. But also, a baby who I love more than life. Whose smiles, giggles, and babbling melt my heart.

What boggles my mind is that I helped make that. And I'm sorry, but I think he's the cutest thing to ever grace this earth. I'm probably biased, but I think he's a beautiful baby.

On to the other accomplishment that I'm very happy about. When I got home from the hospital after having Will, I weighed about 170 lbs. Granted, there's a lot of extra fluid going on right after giving birth, but that's where I was weight-wise. If you know me (or have read past blog posts) I have a very real fear of being fat since I was pretty chubby growing up. I waited until things had settled down a little more to really being a diet regime and when I started it about 5 weeks ago I weighed about 162 lbs. When I got married I weighed 154, for reference, which is the least I've weighed in my adult life (aside from when Will was trying to kill me during the first trimester). I really wanted to get back there and beyond because there were still parts of my body I wasn't thrilled with even then. (I also told Matt that I didn't want to get pregnant until I got down to at most 150 lbs) At the beginning of the year we bought an elliptical which I have been using diligently. Then, like I mentioned, 5 weeks ago I added diet on to the exercising. And now, I weigh 151 lbs. So, needless to say, the baby weight is gone. Honestly, one of my biggest concerns with having kids was that it would send me into a downward spiral of weight gain and that I would struggle for the rest of my life to just lose the weight I gained with the first baby. But, I'm a little obsessive... and crazy... and anal. And I didn't want to just lay down and die so to speak. Not to mention, all of Matt's sisters are ridiculously hot and thin after having multiple kids (and I get to compare myself to them annually at the Stringham beach week) so that's pretty good motivation. And I know I shouldn't compare myself, but we all do it, am I right? So I've worked hard. And I'm feeling really good about where I've gotten to thus far. Sure, I'm in my work out clothes pretty much all day because once I put Will down for his first nap, I hustle to work out, and by the time I finish he is usually waking up. Then he won't let me leave so I can shower so I wait. But then usually once I put him down for his second nap, I'm going over in my mind everything I need to get done (homework, dinner, housework, etc.) so the shower again takes a backseat. But, hey, there's a season for everything. And presumably, one day I will be able to shower and get ready for the day before 3 in the afternoon.

So, there it is. My horn tooting. Thank you for indulging me (or not, I'm sure most of you just started skimming about 1/3 of the way through--trust me, I get it). And for funsies, here's an Easter picture for you.

Stationery card

Classic Scroll Frames Boy Birth Announcement

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Stationery card

Classic Scroll Frames Boy Birth Announcement

Find 100's of cute birth announcements at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Our New Addition

Well, as most, or all, of you know, we have recently added a person to our family. Little William Timothy Stringham was born on August 17, 2012 at 7:50 am. He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and measured 19 inches long. I plan to blog about the birth and hopefully get Matt to write about it from his point of view but the adjusting is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated. So you're just getting a quick one today. I'll catch up someday... Regardless, we are in love with our little guy. I can hardly believe that he's been here more than a month! Here's a treat for your viewing pleasure.

Home Stretch

Well I made it to 39 weeks! My mom comes into town today and I'm super excited to see her! When I went to the doctor on Friday we discussed doing an induction this coming Friday. As it turns out, she is going out of town on and off the couple weeks following my due date so there would be no guarantee she would be there to deliver little Will. Also, having the baby right before the weekend would make it easier on Matt as far as his school schedule goes. So tomorrow I go back in for her to check me again. I feel like my body is getting more and more ready so I don't think that will prevent us from inducing. It's hard to fathom the fact that I will have a baby at the end of this week. I'm going to be a mom.

In house news, we have a functioning kitchen! All of the bathrooms function, too! Pictures will come soon, I'm still cleaning and putting the house back together so it's a little crazy right now.

In other news, I found out recently that I will be able to finish my last few Interior Design classes this year so that I can graduate. It's such a relief to know that I will finally be able to finish. Though it will be interesting figuring our how to juggle that and a new baby. But hey, that's how I roll.

38 Weeks and Counting

Well, we are in the home stretch. I can hardly believe it, but I'm pretty excited... and nervous... and unprepared. We are still working feverishly to finish the renovations before little Will gets here. The cabinets are up in the kitchen (finally) and the countertops are being installed on Friday morning. That means we will have a functioning kitchen very soon. This weekend a lot of drywalling, sanding, and painting got done. I was able to help with the painting so I finally felt useful, though exhausted.

As for pregnancy progress, my doctor was able to touch Will's head at my last appointment and she said I was a solid centimeter dilated - I guess it was tighter before. He has dropped though which has been nice in some ways and uncomfortable in others. This weekend took a toll on my feet and ankles. I hadn't had much swelling before but being up and painting and working all weekend caused some issues. But I'm happy with how things are looking in the house, and hopefully we will be finishing soon.

Our Life Lately

I just wanted to pop in to let you all know that we are still alive and well. We have just been living very transiently (I'm pretty sure that's a real word) lately due to some hiccups in the townhouse kitchen renovations. By hiccups, I mean black mold that had started who knows how long ago underneath the leaky dishwasher and spread about two feet in all directions. Needless to say, it's been frustrating and is taking longer than we expected to fix it but there is light at the end of the tunnel and presumably it will be fixed before Little Will gets here. Any nesting I may have done in the past few weeks has been put on the back burner (which is currently in the middle of our living room amongst all of the other kitchen and dining room furniture and furnishings). In some ways it has been a good thing since the floor could have ended up collapsing if the rotting continued so there's a peace of mind that comes with knowing it's being done right this time.

In other news, since I last wrote I have gained another nephew (the first of three new nephews this summer). Kara and Aaron welcomed Christian Clark to their family on July 3rd while the rest of the family was basking in the Sandbridge beach sun. He is adorable and the family is doing well. I forgot to bring my camera on our trip (pregnancy brain) so I don't have many pictures of the trip, I need to steal some from the more responsible members of the family who weren't so ill prepared. But here is one I do have of the last night we were there. Matt and I went to dinner at Red Robin with Jeff, Dana, and Rhys Zundel, great food and great company, what more could one ask for?

As for how the pregnancy is going, I can't complain too much, Will and me are both healthy so that's the important part. I can no longer bend over and he's still moving like crazy and of course there's the never ending indigestion and acid reflux that I've had my whole pregnancy. Here is the most recent belly shot that I've taken. I was 35 weeks here and will be 37 weeks on Sunday.

At my last OB appointment I got checked and was 30% effaced and 1 cm dilated. I have another appointment tomorrow so we will see if I've made and more progress. Not that it really means anything. People who have made no progress go into labor and have a baby 12 hours later so I'm not holding out hope that this means he's coming soon. Besides, it's still kind of terrifying to think that I will be taking care of another human soon. And be totally clueless doing so.