37 weeks!

Only 3 weeks to go and I am finally feeling ready...well I guess as ready as I can be. It's a huge relief to have our place in order and the baby stuff organized. I am feeling pretty good and the pains have subsided for now, phew! I hope they don't return until it's go time.

Yesterday, we got our gym memberships set up and I actually went in for a short workout. It's the first time since we've been here I've had the energy to do much outside of organizing inside the house. It felt good to do a little exercise. Not sure how often I will make it from here until my due date but plan on going when I feel up to it. With my ever expanding belly, basic things like walking are getting more and more uncomfortable.

We also had a day of cleaning the entire place yesterday which is something I've become obsessed with over the past few days. I just have this crazy urge to vacuum even if I see one stray fuzz on the floors! I hope that goes away as I really don't want to turn into a crazy woman :)

Here is the latest belly pic along with a couple pics of the baby stuff all ready to go!

Sweden, finally!

We've finally arrived in Sweden and are starting to feel settled. What a great feeling it is to be here and breathe a bit easier (well not really literally since beaner is squishing my diaphragm in half but you get the picture). We have already made a couple trips to Ikea to get a few things for the apartment and of course baby furniture. Scott was hard at work last night putting it all together. As you can see in the pics, he did a great job! The last pic is Scott testing out the 'earmuff' things we got for beaner to wear at the hockey games. It's always so loud in the rinks so we thought these were the perfect baby accessory to keep her ears protected. According to Scott, they work great! We just did the final load of baby laundry and everything is sorted, folded and put away. I've been busy getting the place in order and must say this whole 'nesting' thing is really kicking me into gear. We have a few last minute things to do but it's almost there. Packing the hospital bag will be the last thing we need to do to prepare for beaner's big entrance. Hard to believe we will be using all of these baby things in 3 short weeks.

I have been having what I think are false labor pains the last couple of day/nights. They are absolutely no fun and I am really praying they don't last for the entire next 3 weeks. There's really nothing we can do about them as I suppose it's my body's way of preparing itself for labor and delivery. Speaking of which, we found out at our ultrasound this morning that beaner is still head down and ready to go whenever she feels it's time. I am heading to the hospital again this afternoon for a baby class and hopefully a little tour of the labor/delivery unit. Our midwife was supposed to arrange for a translator so I actually know what they are saying so we're hoping she did. Scott is at practice now so will meet me there when he's done. Hopefully after this, we will be a bit more comfortable with the hospital and systems here in Orebro.

On a hockey note, things are going really well. Scott has had 2 home exhibition games which I've been able to make it to. They tied one against a team in the top league and won against a team in the league below. Their season opener is Wednesday against a team about a half hour from here. It's a big rivalry so should be great game. Scott has been playing and feeling great too. We met and hung out with the other North American guy, Justin, and his wife Nikki. They have an 8 month old son, so that should be lots of fun.

I will post another belly pic later this week as I hit the 37 week mark! Hopefully pics of our place to follow shortly too.

35 weeks

Well, I have officially reached the 35 week mark which means 35 DAYS until my due date! I had to calculate that a couple times to be sure it was right. It's so hard to believe we will be holding our little beaner in our arms in such a short time. Moreover, we will be parents, which is an even crazier thought.

Scott is now home from Sweden and has delivered all of our (and beaner's) stuff safely to his new team. He played in a tournament and they did really well and things look promising. Was nice for him to meet and play with his new team since the season will be starting shortly after we arrive next week. There is another North American player on the team who has his wife and 8 month old son with him too. I was happy to hear both me and beaner will have some friends there. Scott says he can really tell a difference in my growing belly in just a weeks time. As you can see from my latest belly pic, he's right!

Face Shot

Here is our little beaner at 32 1/2 weeks. She finally decided to show her little face. Although she managed to get her hands up there shortly after we were looking, we were able to get one decent picture. You can really only see half of her face in the picture but what a sight to see her face. Scott says she looks more like a human and less alien-like now. What a relief that is! Her nose looks a lot more like mommy's but we'll really have to wait and see until after she arrives. According to her measurements, she now weighs just over 4lbs. and should gain about 1/2lb. a week from here on out. She already has a full head of hair too, although we weren't too surprised by that fact :)

We've arrived in Denmark!

Well, this is officially my first post from Denmark. We've arrived safe and sound with just a few minor glitches. Our original flight was canceled and the re-booked flight ended up being delayed in both tri-city and amsterdam. Luckily, we didn't miss any of our connecting flights and arrived in Denmark, with all 6 of our bags, just an hour later than planned. The flight itself wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, but I think the extra 5 inches of leg room due to being in economy plus made a big difference. Neither one of us got much sleep so we've been feeling the effects of jetlag the last couple of days.

We were busy as soon as we arrived with collecting and sorting through all of our belongings we left in Esbjerg last year. Had to get rid of some of it so it would all fit in the car Scott was taking to Sweden. I don't think there was room for anything else in that car! Scott is now in Sweden gearing up to play his first game with his new team and dropping off all of our stuff. I'm looking forward to just getting there so we can get somewhat settled before little beaner arrives. We will have a lot to do in those last 4 weeks!

The latest belly pic is me at 32 1/2 weeks and boy am I feeling every new cm of growth these days. I will go for another checkup next week here in Denmark to make sure things still look good and hopefully get the ok to fly to Sweden in 3 weeks. Luckily, that will be a short 30-40 minute flight so should be all set.

30 weeks

It's hard to believe I only have 10 weeks to go! We are busy preparing for beaner and our big move across the pond. Buying last minute things has been going on for the last two months, it seems. I'm just wondering now if you can ever really be ready?!? We'll start packing up the house and getting ready to move it all to storage in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, a friend of ours will be helping with the actual move since I won't be contributing much this year.

Our last appt. went well. I passed my glucose screen and am measuring right on track with weight and size. As you can see from my latest belly pic, we're both definitely growing!

Looking forward to Andy and Nicole's wedding- one week from today. Our last big hurrah before we leave.

Beach time in the Bend

We just got back from a relaxing vacation in Canada with Scott's family. The weather started off a little shaky but turned out to be beautiful most of the 10 days we were there. Spent some quality time at the beach playing games and reading our parenting books. Also, got to catch up with our good friends Ryan and Erin, who are also expecting a week before us.

Dick and Sue treated us to a play in Stratford which turned out to be a fun little adventure. We had an awesome picnic and strolled the streets and shops of Stratford after the play. Sitting in that little seat for three hours was a reminder of the upcoming international flight which I must say, I am NOT looking forward to at all! Keeping my fingers crossed we can change our two middle seats to an aisle, otherwise I may have a small breakdown. Who wants to climb over someone or be climbed over, for that matter, every hour or more??

We ended our trip with the Wickerson family reunion. Had great weather and lots of good food. We even got to hold a little 1 week old baby, so precious! Can't wait to bring little beaner to the cottage and beach next summer.