37 weeks and 5 days

By 37 weeks and 5 days Eliza had already made her appearance. She decided to show up 2.5 weeks early. It's so crazy to me that this baby could make his/her appearance at any point!

We are expected to have a big snow storm tomorrow. Considering our track record with meeting up with Stephanie and Eric during epic storms I wouldn't be surprised if this baby decides to make a dramatic entrance tomorrow. However we are praying that little one stays put until after the storm!

Below is me on the left with Eliza at 37 weeks and Stephanie on right with Baby P at 37 weeks.

I keep going back and forth on if this one is going to be a boy or girl! Can't wait for that moment!

Things to figure out

I started to panic the other day about Stephanie going into labor. Being on this side of things can make you really anxious. Obviously if I was pregnant I would know when my body was going into labor and be able to prepare, but not being the one that goes into labor and needing to be "on call" made me so nervous. My smart phone is also the phone I use for work and I can receive emails at all hours of the night because for big projects I work with offshore. So I tend to silence my phone as to not have it go off every couple minutes. I suddenly realized I need to figure out how to allow Stephanie's number to dial through even if the phone is on silent. What if she goes into labor in the middle of the night?! What if I didn't have my phone on and we missed it?! All things I didn't think about until this week. I need to have someone ready to come to the house to stay with Eliza if this happens in the middle of the night. There is so much I need to figure out!

1) make sure I can get calls from Stephanie at all hours

2) I need someone on call for Eliza

3) book tour of the hospital

4) confirm the hospital knows we need two rooms

We made some updates to the nursery. Eliza has been spending alot of time in here.

By The State of Connecticut - It's Official We Are the Parents

On Wednesday we went to court. It's a formality and necessary part of the process, but we went to court so the State of Connecticut will recognize Carmelo and I as the parents of the baby. We had to accept all rights to the child and Stephanie and Eric had to waive all rights. The judge granted us to be the intended parents and we can officially have our names on the Birth Certificate. Seems funny to have to go to court to get our names on the Birth Certificate and when I told people that we had to go to court. Their first question was "Did Stephanie change her mind?"  - NO absolutely not. But it's people's first reaction that you only go to court for bad stuff. But as we learned, you can go to court for good stuff too!

49 Days To Go!

CT Family Court after it was Official

Nursery - 30 Weeks

Friday marked 30 weeks! Which means we now are less than 10 weeks away from holding Baby P! I can not believe how quickly time is going.

This weekend we prepped the house for Baby. Initially I didn't think we were going to put a room together. I figured the baby would be sleeping in our room for the first three months and depending on how good of a sleeper the baby was, He/She may just share a room with Eliza. But of course as time ticked away I felt really strongly about having a space for Baby P. So I guess nesting does kick in for Intended Parents!

This weekend I put together a dresser and the crib, moved the glider into the room and picked up some formula and diapers. I also ordered a bed frame (the room is also our guest room) and new area rug. Those should arrive in the next couple weeks and then I'll have to decide on any prints or decor I want in the room.

I've already found myself stopping by the room every time I'm upstairs. Eliza has also already climbed into the crib twice "to sleep" and asked if she could sleep in the room and said she misses "her baby brother/sister so bad". I tell her we will meet them soon. I just feel so lucky and happy and the room gives me some peace. So countdown is on! Less than 10 weeks to go!

29 Weeks

29 Weeks! Where has the time gone?! I can not believe we have potentially less than 11 weeks left or about 73 days!

Originally I didn't think we were going to set up a nursery. I had planned on waiting until the baby was here and see if it was a boy or girl and if was a girl, put the crib in Eliza's room. But now I'm thinking I want a space that is the baby's. So I have been purging and reorganizing the guest bedroom. The guest bed will remain in there but I'm hoping to add some updates to the room, bring in the glider, set up the crib and provide a quiet space for baby.

Carmelo and I have also started to get more serious about trying to figure out names. I think we've landed on a boy's name, but have been struggling with a girl's name. We have a list but nothing that has really given us that "YES!" moment.

So much to do! And we are so excited!

29 Week Bump!

Making Lemonade

"When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade"

This post is long overdue but back in July, Carmelo, Eliza and I went out to Stephanie and Eric's home to support the boys' Lemonade Stand. This was the second year that Stephanie and the boys had a lemonade stand where the proceeds went to a charity. This year Stephanie and the boys picked "Bikers Against Animal Cruelty" and they raised $772!

It was truly inspiring to see how the community came out to support them and continued to reinforce how amazing Stephanie is and the impact she has on other's lives.

Carmelo's Family Meets Stephanie

This weekend we had family over to meet Stephanie and her family. Since the family was all going to be there we also decided to buy some balloons and a cake and make it's Eliza's Birthday Party.

The evening went perfectly. Everyone absolutely loved Stephanie. Eliza and her boys continue to amaze me how much they just naturally get along.

Eliza is also starting to make the connection of Stephanie's belly and her sibling. She couldn't get enough of Stephanie's belly. Touching it, hugging it and giving it kisses. It made my heart so happy to see how natural it was for Eliza to interact with the baby.  I continue to feel so thankful and blessed to have found someone to help us grow our family. There are moments of wishing that things could be different. Wishing Eliza would be able to interact with the baby belly everyday. Wishing it was my belly growing. But I know that is not our path and this is what was meant to be. And I continue to focus on that moment of holding our baby for the first time. A moment that would not be possible without my amazing doctors and Stephanie.

So Happy (early) Birthday Eliza! I hope you had the most amazing day! Love you Bunny Boos.