The Bump

So I haven't shown you all how much the bump has grown lately and the picture from Thanksgiving was from a flattering angle. So I have decided to show you real pictures of the BABY BUMP = that big ole, big ole bump. I took the pics this morning before my appointment in the mirror. (Please excuse said mirror from being a little blurry. I didn't realize I needed to clean it so badly until I took these pictures) So although I have lost weight while being pregnant you would never know it by looking at the bump.
I hope these pics don't scare you all away. Please leave nice comments about the big basketball I am now carrying under my clothes. She will be here in just few short weeks.

Holiday Card Season is Here - Try Shutterfly

Christmas Card season is here. I can’t wait to get my Christmas cards out this year. Sharing and creating my Christmas cards each year is one of the season’s highlights for me. In the past I have used Walgreens for my photo cards. This past summer I went to a Shutterfly introduction event at a friend’s house and was hooked by their products and options. Right after that I set up Shutterfly web page. If you would like to check out my Shutterfly web page follow this link: Vige Family Shutterfly Page
My friend has used Shutterfly for years. She had lots of cards and books for us to look at. After the event I got some free cards that I could use. I decided to make pregnancy announcement cards. Check them out here – Big Brother. They were so great. I got so many compliments on the cards.

This year we actually got family portraits. Normally we just do a Christmas card of Maddox. I am not a big picture person of myself but I am so proud of the pictures that our friend Charity took of us I can’t wait to share. She takes great pictures. I know I have linked to her work before but if you haven’t gone to check it out please take a minute to look at her work – CAT Photography.

So here is the exciting part I found this while reading other blogs and I couldn’t wait to share with all of you. If you are a blogger you can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Now go to any of the links below to check out all of the great products that they offer and make your Christams cards, Calendars or Photos today.

• Christmas cards

• Photo cards

• Calendars

• Holiday tags

• Photo wall art

• Story cards

Appointment #9 - (11-30-10)

Today was a quick appointment! All went well. She is looking great. I am doing well. She is currently about 4lbs 8oz or so and measuring a little bit ahead but pretty close to the actual week. Dr. Mundy reserved me an 11:30am appt at Memorial Hermann Medical Downtown Operating Room for January 13th. That means folks that I have 6 weeks and a day left! It seems to have passed so quickly. Everyone say a prayer that I can get all of the last minute things done during the Holidays so that when she gets here I am as ready as I can be.
Here is a pic from today's visit.



Her face is to the left of the screen. She didn't really want her picture taken today. She was hiding a little.

Turkey Day Pics

A few pictures from our low key Turkey Day today!

THE TABLE

THE FOOD

THE TURKEY

THE BABY BUMP

Week 32 - Happy for my little Turkey in the oven week!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!



By now, Baby M weighs over 4.5 pounds (the size of a small chicken, not actually a turkey) and is about 18 inches long, taking up a lot of space in my uterus. I am supposed to be gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to the baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth. In these past few weeks, it's all about practice, practice, practice as she hones the skills she'll need to thrive outside the womb — from swallowing and breathing to kicking and sucking. And speaking of sucking, my little one has been able to suck her thumb for a while now!

I want to take a minute to wish everyone of our family blog readers a very Happy Thanksgiving! There are so many things that we are thankful for this year.

Grandparents Day!

Maddox's Kindergarten class put on a performance this week for the Grandparent's. Here is my little guy all dressed up before school in his Western gear.


I dropped Maddox off at school in his Western wear. He was so nervous that no one else would be dressed like him.

For the first part of Grandparents Day they put on a Pilgrims and Indians play for the Grandparents. The grandparents got to eat pie.

Here is a pic of Maddox and his buddy Avery.

A little while later the Kindergarten, First and Second grade classes put on a show in the auditorium in their Western Wear singing songs like "Deep in the Heart of Texas!"

After the show was over Granny took Maddox to the new park in League City to burn off some more energy.

Look What I Finished

I know it took me a while, but I had to overcome my fear of working on it. I made a Boppy Cover! I was a little worried with all the rounded stitching and the zipper and there weren't a ton of pieces but more than I had thought at first. I sat down today and decided "No more procrastinating...I am going to finish this!" I finished it...and it fits! I am not tooting my own horn but I am so excited. I finished this whole project by myself. I am not a sewer but slowly hopefully I will get there one project at a time. So you can all ooh and ahh! LOL here are some pictures of my work. Thank goodness you can't see the stitches.

Week 31 - My Sack of 4 Navel Oranges

This week, baby M measures over 16-18 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's is moving a lot, too, so far the baby's kicks and somersaults have not kept me up. But I am to take comfort: All this moving is a sign that Baby M is active and healthy. This week she is working on her brain connections (she's got to make trillions of them!). She's now processing information, tracking light, and perceiving signals from all five senses. She's also putting in longer stretches of sleep, which is why I am probably noticing more defined patterns of wakefulness (and movement) and rest (when she’s pretty still).


Overall things are going really well. I must say that I am really celebrating today. I passed my Internation Space Station Book Manager Certification. So now I have the credentials that go with my job. Yee Haw! I have two books for ISS. One is the Communications & Tracking book and the other is for the HTV (Japanese Cargo Vehicle) Robotics book. Now I sleep better knowing that I have completed another thing off my list.

Appointment #8 - (11-16-10)

Today was my 8th appointment with Dr. Mundy and my first appointment of the every two week variety. I am not looking forward to making that drive every two weeks and then every week coming up here soon. There were 2 accidents and a stalled vehicle in my lane on the way over. His office is up in the Medical Center and we live in League City. It takes about 30 min in good traffic and up to an hour in gnasty traffic. (Such is life in the Houston area) I was a little late but not too bad considering the morning I had today. When I got there the waiting room was jam packed so I thought I would have to wait forever...but all of those other ladies were waiting to see one of the other 3 doctors in the practice. My doc was on call at the hospital so he just had a couple patients scheduled. YAY! I did the usual weigh in first thing. For the very first time since starting to see Dr. Mundy over 6 years ago I was actually ok with the number on the scale. I weighed less than before I got pregnant in April and less than I did for my annual checkup last December. Hard to believe I am losing weight while growing a big ole baby belly but it is happening. Just too weird to wrap my head around but I am not upset about that at all. On to the good stuff. Doc said all of my numbers looked great. He was pleased that everything is going well. I asked him if I could indulge a little for Turkey Day, Birhtdya and Christmas holidays coming up and he said sure as long as I don't overdo it and go hog wild. That makes me feel so much better about that cornbread dressing I plan on eating next week. Can't wait!!! So we are still on track for January 13th. He did tell me one thing that totally caught me off guard... He says "By the way if you have any contractions just go in to the hospital no need to call." So I asked, "Any contractions not just at a certain point?" He replied "Yes any contractions just come on in. It is easier to send you home than for you to get too far along!" I have 8 weeks left till my scheduled by day at 39 weeks. I am NOT ready yet. Guess I better light a big ole fire under my tushy. Now he has made me think it is closer than I was thinking. So after that nugget of information he sent me for another ultrasound. She is still head down. She has plenty of fluid around her. She is measuring 4lbs 2oz which puts her measuring about 32 weeks. I will be 31 weeks on Thursday so she is still a little bit ahead on the growth chart but that is what I expected. She looked just great and in exciting news. I FINALLY got a really good pic of the goods and she is a girl...no more well we can't see any boy parts so we think it is a girl. Today we finally got a pretty good look. Now we just have to decide on a name for our new little M. Wish us luck with that endeavor. If we are lucky we may decide on one before she gets here.

Happy Baptism Day!

Today was Maddox's Baptism Day! We celebrate every year on this very special day. If you ask him I think he just knows it as "Cookie Day!". Shyra his aunt and Godmother made him a really cute plate when he was baptised as a gift. On his baptism day each year you are supposed to eat a cookie off the plate to remember the special day! So here is to another special Baptism Day!

My Special Picture

I wanted to share with all of you a picture from my last launch support mission to KSC back in April. We worked with the STS-132/ULF4 shuttle crew. They were awesome. I can't say enough about how nice the crew was and how much fun they were to hang out with. They were my 4th launch support assignment and probably my last so it was really nice to end up with such a nice crew to support.


Ok now back to the picture at the top and what makes it so special. Normally when this particular picture is taken the support structure is already in front of the shuttle so all you can see is the external tank and the picture is taken from the the back side near the flame trench. Since Atlantis rolled out to the pad late because of weather the support structure wasn't in front of the shuttle so we got to take our picture in front of Atlantis. It was a truly amazing opportunity.

There are so many wonderful memories from my launch support of STS-132. We were able to see shuttle Discovery shortly after landing. We just missed landing by a little bit. We were flying to FL while they were landing.


We got to watch Atlantis roll out to the pad the night before.


We got our picture in front of the shuttle.


We got to watch a Ares rocket launch with the crew while we were there.


The actual Atlantis shuttle launch a few weeks later in May was flawless and went on time.


My family got to come over to Florida to see the launch and we spent a wonderful weekend enjoying ourselves and seeing the sights.

Thanks for letting me share all of this with you. I know it is way after the fact but I just got that special picture sent to me yesterday and was so excited I just had to share. If you would like a better look at any of the pictures you can click on them and it should open them larger.

Week 30 - My Cabbage

We are now in the home stretch! Nine weeks and counting. Can you believe it? I can't...

My belly’s increasing size is a definite clue that baby M is getting bigger every day. Baby M's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Also growing daily is her brain, which is actually starting to look like the real thing with those characteristic grooves and wrinkles. And now that my little genius can regulate her own body temperature and turn up the heat, she'll start shedding lanugo, the downy body hair that's been keeping her warm up until now.
Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

His First LSU Game

My little man decided he wanted to accompany Daddy on his trip to watch LSU play Alabama at Death Valley in Baton Rouge. He has been to LSU before but he has never witnessed the craziness that is LSU football. I got to stay home and do chores around the house. As much as I wanted to go I figured that yelling at my TV during the game was probably as much football as I could handle right now. I got two picture updates during the game. One of the little man and his Paran.

The other image I got was from around half time when i was informed that the little man had just woken up from a nap. My guy can sleep anywhere if he can take a nap in Death Valley during a game.

I haven't gotten a full report yet from my boys but I am hoping that they both had a great time!
Since LSU beat BAMA I am thinking that Daddy might want to take him to the games more often as a good luck charm.
Daddy said that they both had a good time! Maddox said he had fun so I see more guys trips to watch the Tigers play in their future.

Week 29 - My Fall Butternut Squash

Baby M now weighs about three pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. To meet her increasing nutritional demands, Baby M needs plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because her bones are soaking up lots of calcium, I have to be sure to drink my milk). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in Baby M's hardening skeleton each day. Baby M's energy is surging, thanks to white fat depositing beneath her skin. And since she's growing so fast (weight will triple by birth), things are getting kind of cramped in the womb. What all this means for you: Get ready for some more kicks and jabs to the ribs.

Appointment #7 (11-1-10)

Today was a super busy day. Last night I got a flat tire on my vehicle. Thankfully mom was in town from Halloween so we used hers almost all day long. Thanks Mom! First thing in the morning Maddox had a Dentist appointment. Happy to report that all is well on the teeth front. After I dropped him off at school, I headed to help Mom and Max clean up the old office. We worked on it for a couple of hours and I am happy to report that he is all moved out of the old office. Now he just has to get everything looking spiffy at the new office. The contractors were still working until atleast early evening finishing up projects that they hadn't been completed on the new office. Then mom and I hopped into the car for Baby M appointment #7. I didn't realize it but she had never been with me to an appointment before (not even with Maddox). At the appointment all looked really good. My blood pressure was good. Doctor said he would go ahead and schedule me for January 13th. So unless she decides to come earlier than that it will be a birthday of January 13th. He also said that as long as I know where all of the hospitals are on my route to Louisiana and I keep my feet up and get pampered the whole time I should be able to travel back home for the Holidays. After I talked to Dr. Mundy I got another ultrasound. She is head down which is good. Everything looked good. She had a nice strong heartbeat. Plenty of fluid surrounding her. She is measuring just a little ahead. She is about 3lbs 1oz currently. I have less than 72 days till she arrives. I know I am not ready yet but hopefully I will get there soon. So many things to do so little time.