January 18, 2013 - 9 weeks tomorrow!

James is two months old! We are all settling into a little bit more of a routine and life is getting easier week by week. I go back to work next week and am feeling a little nervous about the change (and will miss him!) but I'm sure I will enjoy some time away a few hours a day.

Here's what we've been up to the past two weeks.

WEEK SEVEN

James rolls over! (Surprising both mom and baby)

Play dates with Ruby Burleigh, Ty Ptomey and Braeden Harding

Looking at things more 

WEEK EIGHT

Watched Broncos game with dad

Hung out with dad when mom went to the spa :-)

Had first babysitter, Brittnie Ward, so mom and dad could have a date (slept the whole time)

Slept through the night- 8 hours!!

Play date with Owen Roberts

Smiling a lot and holding head up even more
Rolled over two more times

January 4, 2013 - 7 weeks tomorrow!

It's hard to believe that seven weeks have gone by already. Some days seem to drag by but overall, it feels like time is going by quickly and James is growing so much!

A brief recap of the last seven weeks:

November 16, 2012 - I was induced at 1 pm. Water broken at midnight.
November 17, 2012- James Armagh Cloud was born at 10 am!

 We named James after his grandpa!

November 18, 2012 - We were busy with lots of visitors and felt so blessed to have so many people who love James already! James also had a photo shoot at the hospital and the photos turned out really well. We immediately loved his big eyes! We went home the next day. 

WEEK ONE 

Lots of visitors!

Not much sleep!!

Thanksgiving

WEEK TWO

Learning to live with less sleep

Meeting godparents and buddy Lucas Hunolt

Photo shoot with Janice Wagner

WEEK THREE

Meeting some new buddies (Owen Roberts and Ruby Burleigh)

Mostly just sleeping and eating

WEEK FOUR

Starting to adjust to life with a baby but it is still HARD!!

Not a lot of sleep and a lot of crying (both mom and baby)

Watching football with dad - another Broncos victory!

James went to his first restaurant, the Annapolis Smokehouse (and did great!)

James is starting to focus on more things and look at us

WEEK FIVE/SIX

Rachel is feeling better and less overwhelmed and runs errands with James (Feels like a big victory)

Celebrated Christmas with the Hiskeys

Flew to Montana for Christmas 

Met cousin Ariana (only 11 days younger!)

Enjoyed relaxing week with Cloud grandparents

Celebrated New Years Eve!

So that's been life the past few weeks. We love James and cannot believe how amazing he is! 

November 13, 2012- 40.5 weeks

Well the due date has come and gone.... and no baby yet. I am not feeling any different than I have the past few weeks so it's a bit of a surreal feeling knowing that he could sneak up on me and come any time now. I feel like I SHOULD feel different before he arrives, so my feeling is still that he's a few days or a week away... but we will see! Here's some photos of me on Thursday...two days before DD.

Grandpa and Grandma Cloud are now in town and it's been fun to spend some time with them before the little guy arrives. We went to dinner with both parents on Friday at one of our favorite places, Woodberry Kitchen.

We are putting the finishing touches on the nursery and enjoying working on that together. Here are some photos of the nursery as of now.

Hope to share some news of his arrival soon!!

October 30,2012 -38.5 weeks

We are down to 11 days left til due date!! I am not really feeling much different except that my feet/ankles are looking a little more swollen, so my guess (though I have no experience) is that he won't be early... But we'll see! I am grateful that he held off during the hurricane...not only because we didn't want to be on the roads, but the Cloud grandparents arrive one week from tomorrow so we're hoping he can wait at least until they get here!

My current guess of his arrival is November 19. Brandon says tomorrow, but I don't think that will happen....

Here are some photos of me the past week. This is me with Wudan, who is due at the end of February.

Here are a couple from a Halloween party this past weekend. I went as an 8 Ball, some may call it a lazy pregnancy costume but I'm pretty proud of the creativity.

Here is a photo of me today! I don't see how there is possibly room for him to be there a few more weeks but I guess we will see.

October 19, 2012 - 37 weeks

We have had a busy past few days, so the week just snuck up on me! 37 weeks! He is so big now that I think he is just shifting around and I don't feel quite as much kicking as I have in the past. But I am much more uncomfortable these days. It's hard to be content just sitting on the couch very long.... or at my desk at work. Work has been busy for me so it's a good distraction to my day. I spent this week trying to get things done from now until mid January JUST IN CASE he comes, which is a wild thought. So now that I am so prepared, he will probably not come until Thanksgiving :-) Here are two photos of me at week 37.

Last week I had TWO showers and now have everything that we need for his arrival. My co-workers had a surprise shower for me last Thursday which was really fun and of course we had some delightful food/desserts. Here are a few photos from the shower.

Then, the next night, I had ANOTHER shower at our friends the Rawley's house. I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of people who love our son already and feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in our life. Annalise took some photos but this is the only one I have now. I will add more later.

The following night we had a dinner party with some friends (because I am a CRAZY PERSON) It was really fun and didn't end up being terribly exhausting for me. Here's a photo of the table and the individual maple cheesecakes with sauteed pears that I made.









Sunday I was finally able to sleep in and get things organized in the baby's room. Brandon and I spent an hour or two making sure we had everything that we NEED if he were to come today... and I think we are pretty set now. Here's a couple pictures of his room.

This weekend should be a little more low key.... My goal for the weekend is to get the car seat installed and pack my bag for the hospital! Rebekah is away for a week, so we have Landon this weekend which will be good practice for us to learn to balance our life with a child... though he is a little more energy.....