Almost to term!

So, here I sit at 35 1/2 weeks along...almost to term! We've just been extremely blessed to have survived such a hard hit from Hurricane Ike. Schools have been closed for six days and half of Houston is still without power over a week later. Our family has been very blessed, though, because we had very little damage done to our house or yard (just some tree limbs down, bushes blown over and a few shingles on our roof beat up) and we were fortunate enough to have power restored the next day. We were also fortunate enough to have a place to stay with power for the one day we were without (thanks mom & dad). Riley, being the tough girl that I feel she already is, hung in through all of the drama that came with the hurricane and didn't cause me any troubles, contractions or false labor alarms (whew!). I know that Michael was oh so worried about my welfare and the baby's through this trying and stressful time, but we both made it through just fine and even had the best possible conditions with which to stick it out!

All of this has got me reflecting back on what neat and unique events baby Riley has experienced while in the womb...and while I can't sleep during the wee hours of the morning very well these days due to back pain and frequent trips to the bathroom, I figured I would list some of what's happened in our lives during the last eight months:

• Traveled to Boston, MA in March - rode the subways, ate at the Union Oyster House, went to a Boston Celtics game at the Gah-den (Celtics vs. Hornets...#1 vs. #1 at the time...Celtics went on to win the NBA Championship), stayed at the Lizzie Borden bed & breakfast (slept in Lizzie and her sister's bedroom), toured the Newport Mansion in Rhode Island
• Went to see Bruce Springsteen in concert
• Went to two Rockets playoff games at the Toyota Center (Rockets vs. Utah Jazz...Rockets lost the first one and won the second)
• Went to see the Cure in concert
• Voted for the first woman presidential candidate in our country's history in the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton. Stood outside and campaigned for over three hours in the cold to vote for her in the state's caucus that night as well.
• Went to see Robert Earl Keen, Jr. in concert
• Went to see Stone Temple Pilots in concert
• Went to see George Michael in concert
• Stayed for a weekend in Galveston, TX which will probably never be the same again after Hurricane Ike
• Sang karaoke so many times I can't count (many times at Michael's karaoke show at the 6th Street Bar & Grill and once at a semi-gay, drug bar we stumbled into in Galveston called Cocktails)
• Went to see Slaughter, Ratt, Sammy Hagar & Skid Row in concert at the Rock the Bayou Music Festival (Riley either loved the guitar solos or absolutely hated them...everytime an extended solo would occur, she would kick me SO hard! Some of those kicks were even hard enough to hurt, but as soon as the solo was over, she stopped!)
• Saw the greatest plummet in the stock market since the Great Depression
• Survived Hurricane Ike, a category 2 hurricane which hit Galveston and Houston, TX directly and caused about $27 billion in damage to the gulf coast. This storm ranks right up there with the likes of Hurricane Alicia and Hurricane Carla.

Whew! I had no idea it had been such a busy year for Riley! We'll see if she remembers any of the above once she can talk... :)

Some of Riley's Prenatal Hijinks

Just had to make a quick note of Riley's emerging personality...she's shaping up to be quite the spitfire! Her dad and I are already becoming amused and alarmed at the same time! :)

First, when I was around 4 months along, I went to the doctor's office and they tried to listen to her heartbeat with the doppler machine. They tried for about 10 minutes, but everytime they would fix on her heartbeat, she would move and shift so they couldn't get a reading. The nurse said that she had never seen such an "active baby". Finally, after about 10 minutes, the nurse gave up and estimated what her heartrate was.

The next time that I went to the doctor's office about a month later, they tried again with the doppler machine to hear her heartbeat. This time, she stayed still and they were able to get a reading, but then she actually kicked the doppler machine off of my stomach! The nurse looked shocked and so was I...it seems that she's being difficult, just like her daddy can be! :)

Then, just last week, when I was about 31 weeks along, we had another ultrasound. The ultrasound technician was fascinated by what she saw, as were we! Riley was awake and was blinking her eyes continuously and even opening and closing her mouth and making sucking motions with it. It was adorable! The ultrasound technician claimed that babies never do what she was doing and that she was "really showing off". Michael and I looked at each other and smiled, since knowing the both of us, her performing while she had everyone's attention was not a surprise at all! It looks like she's definitely a product of the two of us!

Hello Baby Bump!

Well, what do you know? My tummy (along with the rest of me) is getting really large! Here's a few shots of me right around 7 months along. Miss Riley is kicking and punching like crazy now and is definitely making her presence known!

Welcome to Our Nursery!

Here's the nursery room that we set up quickly before school was out...I believe it was around Memorial Day weekend that we got things going. This room used to be the office in our house and so we had a lot of furniture and things to rearrange in order to clear this room out. We finally did and so then began the process of turning the olive green walls (which was the color we had in the office), into something fun and bright for our little one! We didn't know whether or not we were having a boy or a girl and so decided to do something that was gender neutral. I love the rainforest and have even conducted a fundraiser at our school for the last four years and so we decided to decorate the nursery in a rainforest theme. We painted the walls a lime green and the baseboards and doors an aqua blue. We were so lucky because this year Fisher Price made a super cute baby ensemble in the rainforest theme! Michael and I also got new bedroom furniture and so we used our old bedroom furniture in the baby's room and saved a lot of money there. I really like the way this room came out!

On Our Babymoon!

This blog picks up on when Michael and I found out that we were pregnant with our daughter, Riley Michaela. We were so blessed and fortunate that we were able to conceive the first month that we tried! Imagine my surprise when I already started to feel so different...mainly TIRED! I never felt so tired in my life and so I knew long before the pregnancy test told me that I was probably pregnant. My first trimester was extremely difficult, but I was lucky enough for that to pass by the time I reached the second trimester. I felt great and was even able to complete the baby's nursery as well as finish decorating and remodeling the second story of our house! Michael and I went on a "babymoon" to Galveston at the end of June and had a terrific time. Check me out in my very sexy maternity bathing suit!!!