Catching Up

I must admit that I am not good at all keeping up with this blog. The months have seemed to fly by since I posted about the birth of our son, Chaz. He is now 9 months old. I do not know where the time went. Although I have tried to savor every moment of his precious life, it seems to go flying past me. I look at his newborn pictures and wish I had stamped the image of him at that age in my mind more than I did. I mean, I was paying attention! He is just growing way to fast.

I enjoy being a stay at home mom. I love taking care of my son. I would not have it any other way. The one thing that is the hardest is being here alone a lot since we only have one car. I try not to think about it, but there are times that it gets the better of me. I guess there are some times that I just wish I had some interaction with other people.

At this stage in the life of Chaz, he is trying to cut teeth. He slobbers, chews and fusses at times, and still no teeth! He rolls around all over the floor and will push himself forward with his feet. Crawling is coming soon, I'm sure. He says "dada" (much to the delight of his father). He said "Mama" a few times when he was younger. I think it was just a trick though! He has not said it since.

I look at my son and I am so thankful for him. God knew just what I needed at this point in my life. I did not know I needed him until God gave us him. Isn't it funny how we seem to have our lives all planned out and then realize that we are not the ones that should do the planning? It is up to us to follow the plan [that God gives us].

Welcoming Baby Chaz

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

For this child we have prayed...

We are proud to announce the birth of our son, Donald Charles Slater, III. We are calling him "Chaz". He was born at Albany Medical Center on July 28, 2009 weighing 10 lbs and 3 ozs and is 20 inches long. We feel so blessed and completely full of joy as we celebrate this new life God has so graciously given to us.

The Nursery

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The last couple weeks I have been diligently working on the nursery. I guess you can say I am getting into that "nesting" mode. I want everything to be ready ahead of schedule so that when I bring our baby home it will all be ready.

I have been painting a few things that I will use to decorate with. I found some pictures online that I really liked and then I saw the price of them and was not about to pay $60.00 for one portrait. So, I got crafty and went to Michael's and bought some little canvases and decided to paint the pictures myself. I think they turned out pretty good. I am not a Picaso but had a good time painting them. I still have to get some picture hangars and hang all my creations on the walls of the nursery.

I also am happy to report that all the baby's clothes are washed and put away. All of my spots to put things are completely full though. I have to go and get a dresser since I am out of space in the little wardrobe I have. Baby Chaz certainly is not lacking in the clothes department. We truly are blessed to have had so many clothes, etc given to us at the baby shower. Also, my sister-in-law gave us several boxes of clothes that her 2 year old outgrew.

I was outside today sanding another project I am working on for the baby's room. It is a little 4 drawer night stand. It will come in handy for sure. I definitely need the drawer space. I am going to paint it to match the colors in the room. I will have to post pics of it when I am finished.

The countdown is on and I am more than ready to have this baby and bring him home. I give thanks to God for His help for getting me this far.

He's a BIG boy!

I went to the doctor yet again this week. When I was having my ultra-sound the tech told me that this is the week that they need to measure the baby again. After taking the measurements, she told me that the baby weighs 4 lbs, 1 oz. And that he is a big boy! Wow! They are supposed to induce me early and I am glad of that. I have a feeling he is going to be huge! Being diabetic, I am not surprised that he is big. That usually is the case. I am just 29 weeks(tomorrow). They will do another ultra-sound to check growth again in 3 weeks. I guess that will tell us more. I am just glad that all is well and he is a healthy baby.

I am posting 2 pictures that the tech gave me yesterday. It has been a while since I have gotten any pics. While she was doing the ultra-sound, we could see the baby open and close his mouth. He was swallowing. I could see his little tongue. The tech showed us white stuff on his head and said that is the baby's hair! Yay! He has hair. I hope he has lots of it! I am so pleased that we got to see so much yesterday.

I am also very pleased that my mom was here from Ohio and got to come with me and see too. She left and went back yesterday after we came back from my appointment. She came here to help me get the nursery ready. She painted the room and it looks terrific! The color of paint I chose is Shasta Daisy. It is a very pale yellow and looks creamy in some light. Now I have to order the bedding and get the furniture in there. I will post pics when I have it ready. I cannot wait to have it all done! I am getting more and more excited to meet our little one!

Getting near the finish line!

Yesterday I went to my weekly doctor appointment. I got my usual ultra-sound and progesterone shot. I also talked to the doctor. I usually do not see a doctor every week but since I am getting close to the end of my pregnancy, I will start seeing him more. We talked about what is going to start happening in the next few weeks. On my 37th week, I will have the cerclage removed. That is the stitching they put around my cervix to keep it closed. This will be the week of July 20th. If I do not go into labor at that point, then I am scheduled the 4th of August to be induced! I hope that I will go into labor on my own, but if not I at least know I will not have to go to my due date of August 13th. So, this really means that I have about 9 to 10 and a half weeks to go before our little bundle arrives. I am getting excited to meet this little boy that God is so graciously blessing us with.

I can't believe it! We are having a...

BOY!!! I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would be pregnant again let alone find out that we are having a son. When I found out I was pregnant I wanted it to be a boy. When the ultra-sound tech told me that it was a boy, I thought, " what do I do with a boy!" I know that is funny, but I have never had a son. My daughter is grown and all I have ever known is having a daughter. I am very, very happy about the fact that I am giving my husband a son.

As of yesterday, I am 25 weeks pregnant. At 37 weeks I will have the cerclage (stitches) taken out and after that, anything could happen!

I hope and pray that all goes well with my delivery and that the baby does not get too big since I am diabetic. It is also scary to think that when I had Krystle, she weighed 8 lbs. and 1/2 and ounce. I have heard that babies get bigger as you go. And when Don was born, he weighed almost 10 pounds! I just hope the size my husband was when he was born does not have a bearing on how much this baby will weigh!

I am feeling this little one kick me all the time. He kicks so hard sometimes that it actually startles me! I love feeling his kicks. So does his daddy. Though sometimes he is stubborn and will kick as soon as his daddy takes his hand off my tummy!

We feel so blessed and are anxiously waiting the birth of our little boy. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.