Ankles? What ankles? ... and other joys of the third trimester

It is now 5:38am and I have been awake for the past 2 hours. Its not that I'm not tired, I am, I just can't get comfortable. I've now tried getting comfortable on two of our different couches in all sorts of different positions...no such luck. (side note: I have discovered that ABC family plays all of the old sitcom shows that I remember from junior high... Step by step, Sabrina the teenage witch, etc. in the wee hours of the morning. Its amazing (and really pathetic)how many episodes I still remember. )
So, here I am less than 2 weeks away from becoming a mom and I'm watching ridiculously bad actors on cancelled TV shows from my past. I think I need a new hobby.
That said, I am getting very ready for Baby DeBoer to arrive. The last few weeks have brought about new discomforts that I would rather do without - hence the picture of my ugly feet! I am nice and swollen most of the time now... lovely effects of retaining water. My hands, feet and face are definitely fuller - especially my feet. Matt affectionately refers to my feet and ankles as "clubs" or 'hobbits feet sans the hair'. I've also developed carpal tunnel in my hands and wrists from the swelling causing pressure on nerves. It takes me 5 times as long to do anything now that I have to stop and shake out my hands to get some feeling back to the fingers. Hopefully this will all go away once the baby comes, but then again, carpal tunnel syndrome has haunted the women in my family for years so I'm not holding my breath.

Here's the latest prego pic... 38 weeks



In other news, there really isn't much other news in the DeBoer house. Thursday marked the beginning of March Madness which basically means that I am a basketball widow for a few more weeks. Matt has been looking forward to this tournament for weeks. So far his bracket is doing pretty well. I came home from work on Thursday to find Matt watching one game on T.V, one game on the Internet, Sports Illustrated laying out on the coffee table and his bracket in hand. I just had to take a picture...

Such a sports freak... gotta love him.

Before... After!

Before...
I bought this glider on craigslist for $10 awhile ago with the intent to re-finish it.


After!
I spent this past weekend sewing a new cover for the glider cushions. It's not perfect by any means but I am pretty excited about how it turned out. A definite improvement from what it was like when we bought it. Not bad for $10 plus fabric costs. I got a stool at Jo Ann's that Matt painted the same color as the glider and made a cushion for it too, so now we have an ottoman to rest our feet on as well.


Before...
We were given furniture for the nursery from a good friend of mine at work. It is great furniture, just needed a good cleaning and some TLC.


After!
Matt sanded, primed, and repainted the furniture an espresso brown. Then we changed all of the knobs out and voila! Like new! I didn't get good 'before' pictures of the dressers (I always think about that after the fact) but here are the 'after' pictures.




Before...
This is me at 14 or 15 weeks pregnant, looking nice and tired.


After! (sort of)
Here is the latest prego pic at 36.5 weeks, still looking nice and tired... and quite a bit bigger!
It's hard to believe that we'll be meeting Baby DeBoer within a month. Sometimes I feel like I have been pregnant forever and other times I wonder where the 9 months went!

Visit from family!

My mom and friend Katy came out to visit us two weekends ago. It was wonderful to have them out here! The time FLEW by, as usual, but we were still able to get everything done on Katy's 'wish list'... we visited Matt and his class at RCS, did LOTS of shopping, went to Hollywood to "roll on the stars", went to Santa Monica Pier, and even had a baby shower with friends of mine from work... all in just a long weekend.


Matt's 6th grade classes wrote Katy letters a few weeks ago... part lesson in letter writing, part pen pal thing. Katy loved the letters and was so glad to get the chance to actually go see the students and talk to them a bit. (and I'm pretty sure Matt enjoyed the break from actually having to teach)


Katy and Matt's class.


The girls from work threw me a baby shower... so nice that my mom was able to be here for that.





We got a lot of really great gifts for the baby. We're really starting to feel more prepared to meet Baby DeBoer.


The picture is a bit blurry but the onesie says "diaper loading...78% complete" - cute.

My Aunt Marilyn and cousins, Heather and Kristen, were also able to be here for the shower. It was really nice to see them and catch up a bit.


Mom and Katy outide the wax museum in Hollywood.

We didn't actually go in the wax museum but it was fun to see the scene from The Wizard of OZ out in front. (the women in my family have a strange obsession with the wizard of oz)


Katy with "Marilyn Monroe"... and we didn't even have to tip 'Marilyn' for the picture.

Mom and Katy outside the Chinese Theater - too bad it started raining while we were looking at all the footprints and handprints. Oh well, a little rain never hurt anyone.


Katy at Santa Monica Beach... first time seeing the beach!

We really had a great time and managed to squeeze a lot in a short amount of time. Poor Katy was stuck in an uncomfortable wheelchair the whole time though. They had rented some equipment to make the trip easier for her - including a lift, hospital bed, handicap accessible van, and power chair. Unfortunately, the power chair didn't quite work for her - it was more like a scooter. Matt, on the other hand, had a BLAST with that chair and was in it constantly when Katy wasn't trying to use it. He really got quite good at manuevering around and let me tell you, those suckers can move! I should have gotten a video of it or at least some pictures but I wasn't thinking.