Such Wonderful Sister-in-Laws and 35 Weeks!

Today is Baby H's 35 week birthday - only 5 or so weeks left!!! Amazing!! Here is today's belly pic:

Sara had an appointment with an anesthesiologist today to determine if she was a candidate for an epidural given her mild scoliosis. Good news on that front! If she decides she wants an epidural, she can get one and it should be successful. The anesthesiologist made Sara's day when the doctor told Sara it was good that she was skinny because she could easily see and feel her spine to see the space where the epidural would go. You don't hear those words everyday, especially after gaining 26 pounds to-date!!

Our sister-in-laws are the best and wanted to let the world know that via this blog! Both Annie and Dawn have been borrowing Sara maternity clothes to wear this pregnancy and such cute clothes at that. Sara keeps them in a separate closet and enjoys going shopping in her other closet on some days! Sara gets compliments at work every day (no, not even exaggerating) on her wardrobe and people are impressed that she hardly wears the same things twice. HA! Just wait people, she will soon. But, a big thank you to Annie and Dawn for borrowing Sara such cute clothes for the next few weeks! She really appreciates it!

Winter is Here!

We had a fabulous anniversary weekend!! After dropping Randle off at his favorite home away from home, we headed to Stillwater, the city where Brian proposed. We checked into a Bed and Breakfast, had a few cocktails (or mocktails for Sara) and played a game of Yahtzee. We found a game Sara sucks at - Brian beat her by a landslide!! Then we headed to the restaurant that we ate at after getting engaged. We even had the same table!!

After dinner we hit a local bar to catch a few innings of the Twins/Yankees game...ironic considering during our wedding the Twins were playing the Yankees and the Yankees were staying at the downtown hotel we hosted our wedding reception at. In our room we had a wood burning fireplace which was nice. It reminded us of our old house. Our "new" house has only gas fireplaces. Thank goodness that kept us warm because we woke up to snow on the ground!!!

So, we'd say that winter is officially here. Although today it is a bit warmer out so Sara went out to take some pics of the beautiful fall foliage.

Tonight our good family friends Frank, Tammy, and their new daughter Sienna will be visiting us. They are in town for Frank's work so we're excited they have time to come over and have dinner It will be great to catch up and meet Sienna!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

5 years ago today on a beautiful fall day in MN, we were married! It's hard to believe that it was 5 years ago, because it seems like yesterday. We've had a lot of special memories in the past few years and know there are many more yet to come!

We got married on October 9, 2004 and engaged on October 10, 2003 so this time of year is always special for us. We usually spend part of this weekend every year in Stillwater, MN where Brian proposed and this year is no different. Brian planned an awesome weekend that starts at 3pm today. More to come later!

We had our 34 week appt yesterday and learned that everything is still looking good. Measuring right on track, have gained 25 pounds to date, my cervix is closed (no dilation), and the head is down. What a great week we're having!!

Interesting Prediction

We found online a labor prediction quiz and our results are:
"You won't need to try any secret recipes to bring on labor. Have your emergency numbers ready. Don't wait until the last minute to get your nursery ready. We predict your baby will come 1-2 weeks early. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 7.5 pounds and that your labor will be about 11 hours long."
Of course, this is just for entertainment purposes, but we can't help but wonder if it will be true?!?!?

Sam!

We had a wonderful day watching our nephew Sam. He's such a good baby. Hardly made a peep except for his baby babbling. We can't believe he'll be 7 weeks old tomorrow, it doesn't seem that long ago we were visiting him in the hospital when he was just an hour old. He is so alert, attentive, and strong. He will be rolling over in no time. He can already go from his back to his side without any trouble. He loved playing with his future cousin's toys...especially the bouncy chair with mirror and the swing!

No real updates on Sara's pregnancy. We're 33 weeks now but at our Doctor's appt he reminded us that we should really be ready for between 4 and 8 weeks. We thought about going long, but never really thought about going early. This news made us realize we really should pack the hospital bag and install the car seat soon!!

Sara continues to enjoy pregnancy. It's easy to say when you have no real symptoms except the weight gain. However, she has experienced a few bouts of heartburn in the past week or so. At first she thought it was due to chocolate, but then realized that it was happening at the same time in the afternoon...so she bought her first ever bottle of Tums. Exciting stuff at the Hillins household!!

This weekend has been a weekend of staying in, which has been nice given the weather. Brrrr!!! It's definitely moved into Fall now...or possibly Winter. 45 degrees is a tad cold even for Sara who has a built in heater for the next few weeks. But, we are enjoying our basement. We are so glad that we finished it last summer. It has just about everything we need in it so once we're down there we barely come upstairs except for sleeping!

Tomorrow we'll head over to Jim and Annie's to have dinner with them as well as Annie's brother Paul, his wife Nicki, and their two little ones Brennan and Lola. So, at least we'll leave the house once this weekend (minus church), but it will be great to see everyone! And Monday.....are you ready for some football? Vikings versus Packers. Skol Vikes!

Baby H 4D Ultrasound Video

We are still so amazed by technology. Here is one of the videos that was captured from his 3D/4D ultrasound. We love this little guy so much!!

What a Weekend!

This has been a special weekend for the Hillins household! On Saturday, Sara's sister-in-laws Annie and Dawn hosted a wonderful baby shower for Baby H. 16 friends and family members were in attendance. We are overwhelmed by people's generosity for Baby H, he received a lot of nice things that we can't wait for him to use. A few of the highlights of the shower included two fun games, everyone writing a little note to Baby H is the Dr. Seuss book "Oh, The Places You'll Go," the yummy food including Sara's favorite red velvet cake, and the cute candy favors that Dawn made. Thanks Dawn and Annie for hosting such a special shower!

After the shower, we had a 3D/4D ultrasound done. The neat part was that both sets of parents could come. Neither had been to an ultrasound before so it was great to see their reactions to the pictures and movements of their Grandson. We're sure a few tears of happiness and amazement were shed. We determined that he looks a lot like Brian did as a baby - his nose, his chubby cheeks, his length. He was sucking his thumb when we first saw him, then he was holding his hands up to his face (a little camera shy?), but then he was a little poser. What a cutie!!! We're excited to go back in a few weeks for another ultrasound. It will be fun to see how he's changed!

Last but not least from the awesome weekend was tailgating and a Vikings win!! Brian ended up getting the Valhalla Voyager and spent most of Saturday cleaning it out (we won't tell you what specifically needed cleaning, but a big thank you to Brian for the awesome cleaning job). It was fun to have the VV out for the home opener. A little different for Sara this year, not drinking, but she's always entertained with people watching!! We'll store the VV at our house so that we can use it on Monday Night Football on Oct 5 versus the Packers then drive it back up to its storage location. We'll just have to see if it makes it to another game this year, hopefully so since it was so much fun, but we'll play it by ear!

Skol Vikings!

We are so excited for the home opener for the Vikings this Sunday. But it won't be like years past. Most of the Valhalla Voyager crew won't be tailgating due to work travels (we mean seriously, who has work in Europe for 8 weeks during football season?!?) and babies (well, this one is excusable especially when he's as cute as Sam!). So, we're modifying tailgating for the meantime and not getting the VV out of storage...for now.

Instead, we'll be tailgating out of the back of Sara's Explorer like the common folk. HA! Just kidding! Anyone who is tailgating is automatically very cool no matter the vehicle. We have a feeling we'll be the first ones up on Sunday and the rest of the crew that will be tailgating will join us when they can.

Even Randle is ready for football season!

Gopher Game

Sara's brother Jim invited us to the Gophers game today and what a day for outdoor football in the great state of Minnesota. It was 81 degrees and sunny....perfect!! His season tickets are in the corner of the end zone, 3 rows up. We were right in the action! The Gophers didn't win against Cal State, but it was still fun to be a part of the excitement! Love, love, love the new stadium!

Sara even got to meet up with two of her old high school friends during half time for a quick chat!

Baby H is 31 Weeks! Happy Birthday Baby!

Today is Baby H's 31 week birthday! Thursdays are such great days as he reaches new milestones. He is definitely going through a growth spurt as Sara can't consume enough food to keep him (and her) not hungry. Oh well, bring on the ice cream...actually muffins hit the spot more these days! Weight gain to date is 22 pounds and the doctor said between 21-27 at this point, so we're doing just fine on that front. When we went in for our 30 week appointment, Baby H was measuring right on track (30-30.5 cm). We also learned that he is about 3 pounds and 18.5 inches in length. We're just not quite sure how he fits in Sara's belly. It's so tiny, he must really be crunched up. Poor guy!

The Roslansky's have a family tradition of giving little gifts everyday for about a week before birthdays. We have implemented that at our house as well, which will be a fun tradition to continue with Baby H! When the Roslansky's came up last weekend they had a surprise - a big bag filled with gifts for Baby H, and you guessed it...we get to open one a week until he's born, which we'll do on his Thursday birthdays! What fun!!

So, an update would not be complete if we didn't mention little Randle (aka Randini the weenie dog). We were feeling guilty that he's been holed up in his kennel anytime we leave the house since his whole blinds eating episode in June. Actually, two different blinds eating episodes. We left him out on Sunday once when we went to church and once while we ran to Target and he did great! No accidents or destroyed blinds! Since he passed those tests with flying colors we decided he earned the honor of staying out of his kennel all day Monday while we were at work. BAD IDEA! Sara came home to what she thought was a house in tact...until she walked past the vertical blinds and low and behold found 5 destroyed blinds. She wasn't even mad, her heart just sank knowing that Randle (aka craphead now) would officially not be trusted to ever be out of his kennel when we're not home. It's only his fault. And thank goodness, replacement blinds were much cheaper than a whole set. This time, we're "only" out $67.

Seriously, how does a dog this small cause so much damage?