Merry Christmas!

It has been a week of firsts. Jack met his Uncle Micah and lots of other family for the first time. Jack went on his first road trip (in the snow!). Landon (our 4 year old nephew) took an interest in Jack for the first time (he's been jealous and has ignored him up until now). Jack went to church for the first time. Jack also vomited for the first time (great fun). And we had our first Christmas with Jack - the BEST Christmas present ever!

Jack's 2 week update

We took Jack to the doctor this past Thursday for his 2 week checkup....he's a healthy boy!!! We prayed and prayed for a healthy child throughout the pregnancy, and God has answered our prayers. Here's his new measurements:

Weight: 8 lb, 14.5 oz (gained 11.5 oz)
Length: 21.5 in. (grew .5 in)
Head circumference: 14 cm (grew 1 cm)

Jack Update

This post is coming to you several days late, but I'm sure you understand :) We took Jack to the doctor this past Tuesday for a checkup when he was 5 days old. Everything was great! He was already back up to his birth weight! Here are some stats we got:

Length: 90%
Weight: 50%
Head circumference: 10%

The past 3 nights Jack has slept REALLY well in his crib. Last night I was able to put him down around 11:45 opposed to around 1:30am the two previous nights. That did mean he woke up earlier this morning though. He is such a great baby and we are absolutely thrilled to have him as a part of our family!!

Who does Jack look like?

Luke and I looked at our baby pictures today to see who Jack most looks like. We think mostly Luke, with Laura's nose. What's your vote???

Luke: Jack:
Laura:

For the Grands and Great Grands

Jack gets the hiccups all the time....just like when I was pregnant with him.

Jack David VanWingerden

39.5 Weeks

I'm getting close to my due date and we are SO READY!! Here's a picture of me from today, 39.5 weeks pregnant:

The only thing missing from the Nursery is the BABY!!!

Organizing the mess before Baby comes.

Sleepless Nights

Here it is 6:15 am and I've been up and out of bed since 5:45 am. I have a cold, so I'm not sleeping well at night because I can't breathe. I've been experiencing sleepless night for about a week now and the wierd thing is I'm not tired. Not even right now. I wasn't tired when I went to bed last night. I guess God is just preparing me for motherhood :)

38 weeks!!!

I'm 38 weeks preggers and I wouldn't be a bit sad if our baby decided to come a little early :) Here's a couple new pictures:

Laura is ready to Pop and she looks GOOD!!

The Nursery is FINALLY COMPLETE and tomorrow we'll move furniture in

Tonight I put the finishing touches on the paint and I cleaned the carpet!!! Exciting Night!! Laura is finally ready for the baby to come:-).

I really am happy with the how everything turned out. Tomorrow night, when the carpet is dry, we will put the furniture back in the nursery.

Enjoy the pictures below.




Thank you Nick for helping Me!!

Completed dresser and Nursery beginnings

Here's a couple pictures of the dresser! It's finally finished!! Luke did a WONDERFUL job on it. We are both really happy with the way that it turned out.

Proof that I did some work on the dresser ... I put the knobs on! Luke always jokes on me because I wear my coat around the house - even when I'm not cold :)

Luke with the finished product!

Tonight, Luke started work on the nursery (you can see my last post to see what the plans are for the room). He had to rip out all the baseboards to start with. Luke cut all of the wood tonight. Next, he will start priming the wood, then mounting it on the wall.

One of the corners after Luke took out the baseboards:
The same corner with 1 x 4 instead of baseboards (the wood will eventually be white):

Another wall with the wood on the bottom:

Luke cutting the wood outside. Too bad it gets dark at like 6:00!

This picture kinda gives you the idea for what the wainescoating will look like. There will be a horizonal board on top and bottom and vertical boards spaced throughout the room. It will all be painted white.
This picture gives you an idea for how high the wainescoating will be in the room.

The Nursery

We bought all the wood, primer, paint, caulk, etc. today to complete the nursery. Here's some before shots (I didn't realize how dirty the walls were!)

Luke with his wood :-)

35 Weeks!

Here's me at 35 weeks and one day:

This picture is from a couple of weeks ago when we went to a friend's wedding in Connecticut:

Nursery Plans

We have finally decided what to do with the nursery now that we only have 5 weeks left! Nothin like putting it off til last minute :-) My wonderful husband is going to MAKE wainescoating to put on the bottom part of the walls. We're going to paint the top part of the walls green. He has made a layout in Vizio of what it will look like.

Isn't he so wonderful and talented?!? We'll post pictures of the progress and the finished product as we (and by we I mean Luke) work on it.

Updates on Life

Okay, I know I've been terrible about updating our blog when things happen. Here's an overall update on our lives.

• I'm now 36 weeks pregnant (hopefully a picture will be coming to you soon)....only 6 more to go!!! ( or 4 or 8 - we'll see). I'm so ready to hold my little one and be home with him/ her all day!

• Luke's almost finished with the baby's dresser. He's got the whole thing stained and just has to paint and attach the top. And we need to buy hardware (again....pictures to come when it's finished).

• I had another baby shower this past weekend at church and got lots of great things for our baby. Thanks everyone for supporting us! I have one more shower to go in November that will be given by the people I work with.

• Lastly, I debated on posting this bit of news, but it's had such a big impact on my life recently I dedided to go ahead and do it. I have been going through my pregnancy with a friend at work. We see each other pretty much every day of the week and exchange stories and compare notes. She was 6 weeks ahead of me. Well, this past Tuesday (one week before her due date) she went to the doctor for her weekly checkup only to find out that her baby girl no longer had a heartbeat. She delivered her little girl sometime Wednesday knowing that she would be still born. Of coure, this has devistated me. At this point, the doctors don't know why this happened. Physically, she looked completely healthy. Hopefully the autopsy will tell more, but may not. Please pray for my friend and her husband if you think of them.

Love you all! Thanks to those who took the time to read this. Hopefully I will be better about posting in the future!

29 1/2 Weeks!!

Sorry I'm so late posting a new prego picture! We took this one last night, at about 29 and a half weeks. Only 10 more to go!!!

Our Baby's Dresser

When our friends Dom and Bekah moved to California, they gave us this antique dresser they couldn't sell before their move. Instead of buying a new changing table or dresser, we decided to refinish this one and put one of those pads on top so it doubles up as a changing table for baby Van. It's turning out to be a bigger project than we thought it would be, but I think it's going to turn out really good.

This picture is close to what it looked like to start off as (Luke had done a little scraping/ sanding at this point). Notice the legs on the bottom....too tall for a changing table. Two pictures below this you'll see the legs are gone:)

The top of the dresser was covered in this really wierd material and was peeling off, so we bought a new piece of board to replace it. We'll show you pictures once it's finished.

No more legs! Plus, Luke shaped up the design on the bottom a little bit.

A short video of what Luke's had to go through with the weird material that's covering this dresser:

An Exciting Day!

Two very exciting things happened today!

#1: I had my testing for gestational diabetes and I passed! Woo Hoo!! Praise the Lord :)

#2: Last week we ordered a glider rocker and it came in today! I went to another friend's baby shower tonight and when I got home, Luke had everything put together :) It is VERY comfortable! It's microfiber fabric, so it will be easy to clean. I was very happy to find a darker color neutral fabric. And...I didn't think about this when we ordered it, but it matches the couches in our den perfectly; so if we ever want to use it in our den, it will go great! (The wood kinda looks black in these pictures, but it's actually dark brown).

Painting My Nails

So, last night we had our friend Steph and Caleb over. The guys were watching football and us girls decided to paint our toenails. I successfully removed my toenail polish by myself, but I was worn out afterwards .... my stomach was tired of being smushed! Apparently when you're pregnant, it gets harder to reach your toes. Steph was so sweet and painted them for me! Thanks Steph!!! (and the 3rd trimester begins.....)

Baby Shower #3 - Greenville

I'm getting a little better about posting these on time :) Luke's family in Greenville threw us a shower this past S bunday....it was wonderful! I got lots of great advice from people who have been there. We also got so much great stuff for our baby. Lots of things for the baby's crib as well as blankets, decorative items, etc. What a blessing!

I did't get many pictures from this shower, but here's a picture of all the ladies that were there (minus one - taking the picture). This happened to be the weekend of Luke's mom's birthday...the big 5 -0! So, there were several of her friends at the shower that drove down from Michigan to surprise her.

Thanks so much everyone! Love you all!!

Baby Shower #2- Macon

I guess it's becoming a more common occourance for me to post things way later than they actually happened. On August 29, my cousin Sarah hosted an awesome shower for us in Macon. I got to see lots of family and friends that I haven't seen in a while....great times!

Sarah: The best host and cake maker in the world! Thanks Sarah for all you did! My mom found this blanket that my grandma made before she passed (when I was in 7th grade). She wrapped it up and gave it to us for our baby. Such a special gift!

My Aunt Cathy feeling my belly :)
Aunt Cathy, Mom, and me:

Luke and I picked up his mom in Greenville, SC on our way down to the shower. It was really special that she was able to be there.

Some of the wonderful gifts from the shower:

Thanks so much to everyone for supporting us as we prepare for this baby! We really appreciate each and every one of you! And....it was great to see everyone again!