Thanks, Mom!

My mom flew out here from Chicago last week and leaves today :( The week flew by and I am sad to see her go. It was so nice having the company and the extra pair of hands! But, it was especially wonderful to have her meet our new little baby and begin bonding with her grandson. I just realized I forgot to rotate this picture before I posted it -- whoops! Oh well - I just had a baby and that is my excuse for everything right now!
The last time my mom saw Lacey was just 2 1/2 months ago, but she couldn't walk then, so she's a whole new person now running around everywhere!
We mostly stayed close to home, but we did venture out to Annapolis to walk around the water and have lunch and we also made it to the outlet malls to buy some clothes for Tanner since all we have are girl clothes! Thanks to grandma, he's all set now. Thanks for a great week, mom!

Welcome home, Tanner!

Dave brought us home from the hospital today and it is good to be home! We're already experiencing the "juggling act" of having 2 children under the age of 18 months, but we're managing (thanks to us both being home, but I am scared to death of Dave going back to work)! Lacey is fascinated with Tanner and loves to pat him on the head. Although, sometimes her "pats" become "PATS." I'm doing well. It was a hard labor for me and I'm glad it's over! But, obviously well worth it in the end. It feels weird to start over again with all of the newborn things that we did a year ago, but so fun to hold such a tiny little person again and know he's a permanent member of our family.

Happy Birthday to Kerry and....

Tanner Mitchell Strom, who was born this afternoon at 2:50pm!!! He weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz. and is 21 inches tall. Mom and son are both doing great. More details and pics to come.....

Happy Anniversary!

Well, we were hoping to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary by welcoming our 2nd child into the world, but alas, it was not to be. Regardless, we had a nice evening once Dave got home from work. He brought home a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses and we toasted with some sparkling cider. We watched our wedding video and we reminisced about the day and thought about all of our friends and family that were at our wedding. We miss all of you!

As for a pregnancy update.... I am now 39 weeks and 2 days (based on my 10 week ultrasound due date) and my doctor doesn't want me to go past my due date since the baby is "large for gestational age" and the longer I go, the more of a chance I have for a c-section, which I would like to avoid if at all possible. But let me tell you..... I've done EVERYTHING to get this baby to come (aside from the castor oil option - I refuse!) and nothing has worked! I've spent the last few days cleaning my house (mopping the floor, cleaning the bathrooms, etc), I've taken Lacey on walks in the heat, taken her to parks, where I'm pushing her on the swing and running after her. Yesterday I mowed the side yard during her nap and today I push-mowed the back yard during her nap -- I even had my membranes stripped at my Dr's appt 2 days ago and... nothing. ugh! If I don't go soon, I'll probably be induced, but I'm hoping to go "on my own." We'll see!

College Memories and my Home Stretch Update

We have loved the month of May! Not only did we celebrate Dave's 30th birthday and MBA graduation, but we have had visitors almost every weekend! The last weekend of May, Kerry's college roommate, Stephanie Porter Yost and her family (husband Todd, Abby (3) and Katelyn (1))came and visited us (well, and DC, but we like to think it was us!) for 4 days :) Here the girls are "making a cake" in our screened-in porch. We thought it was cute at the time and took a picture, but unfortunately, I didn't clean it up quickly enough and when I finally got around to going out there and vacuuming up all the sprinkles and cake toppings, they had melted into the faux grass, so now we have a very colorful sunroom!

As for my "home stretch update", I'm hanging in there, but I am so stinkin' hot! And no matter how I situate myself, I can't get comfortable. On my last OB visit which was 5 days ago, he said I was dilated to 1 1/2 cm and 50-60% effaced, so I was really hoping something would happen this week, but alas, I am still here as hot, uncomfortable and pregnant as ever! I go in again this Wednesday, so let's hope some more progress was made this past week! I'm hoping our next blog is the baby announcement, but babies have their own time tables, so we'll see!