Late April 2005

"Hey Preggo, What's Kickin?"
--Ray's greeting for Stacey the last couple of months. . .

April 29th

Hi Everyone--

It's the end of April and we're days away from Lucky's May 4th due date! As Stace pointed out the other morning, what a long strange trip it's been since early September when we were first knew we were pregnant. May seemed so far away then, to say nothing of how foreign the concept of having a baby seemed . . . now, with May just days away, nothing seems more right than the baby Stacey's carrying--we looking very forward to meeting it!

The expecting mom has continued to be an impressive pregnant woman. She needs her sleep and sustenance, but other than that, Stacey's pregnancy has continued to be a source of fascination and awe for both us. She's handled work like a trooper and seems to have continued to enjoy the daily grind as much as any of us do, even while baby building. We speculate that work has actually kept her mind of the things that tend to needle pregnant moms and made the baby building go by faster.

Once Stacey's home from work, the shirt tends to be up over her belly, with one hand monitoring the baby movements inside. Throughout the evening, she gives a running play-by-play of the action on the inside, always speculating which baby part is poking or prodding her at the moment. While the Braxton Hicks contractions (we call them "practractions," short for "practice contractions") have been prevalent for the past three or for months, they've been stronger and more frequent lately. One of these days they'll become painful and regular--that's when things will get interesting! While Stacey's looking more forward every day to having the baby, I think she'll miss having her little biology project inside of her. Stace has continued to be a great partner and friend throughout her pregnancy . . . we've both enjoyed it a lot.

I remember when her tummy used to look like this . . .

This was about two and half months, I think . . .

And into the fourth month there's no doubt that she's building a baby!

1/8/05--Into the fifth month . . . lookin' pretty pregnant.

This was how things were looking on February 28th. The finger is hiding Stacey's now "outie" belly button. It kind of makes her nuts.

This was taken in early March . . . into the seventh month I believe. The bellybutton hiding Band-Aid is a regular part of the wardrobe now.

Taken in late march or early April--she's pretty much full-term here.

Stace has actually been pulling abut 42 1/4" the last couple of times she's been measured . . . she must not have had breakfast yet in this shot.

Stacey enjoyed wonderful baby showers, one, here, in Crested Butte and another in Castle Rock. Thank you so much to the friends and family who helped put these together for her--she thoroughly enjoyed them. One of the things that's blown me away has been all of the baby stuff we've been given, even before the showers. Our friends and family have been so wonderful with clothes, toys, furniture and everything. By the time the showers came around, we were so well stocked with baby stuff that we just asked for supplies. We're now swimming in diapers, wipes and baby lotions . . . it's pretty cool. We'll go through the stuff like crazy, but at least we have a good head start on it all.

The Castle Rock baby shower--that's half of Sandra, Lyndsay, Stace and Norma. Sorry about your closed eyes Mom!

What a cool deal this was! Our friends, the Barretts, had just stopped using their crib, so they brought it over, set it up in the baby room and surprised Stacey with it! That was pretty fun. Bobby Block was in on the set-up, as well--it was good stuff. Thanks Randy, Janna and Bobby!

The spoils of the baby showers . . . how fortunate are we to have good friends who take care of us so well? Thanks all!

Stace is folding up the newly washed baby clothes . . . wow did we have a bunch of them--she was at it for days.

That would be me, practicing on the car seat scene . . . the bear looks like it's smiling so I must have done it right.

"Are you ready to be a new daddy?" people keep asking me. My take on it is that I read a couple of really good books, talked to people who've made the transition and have been to a birthing class, so I think I'm about as prepared as I can get. But am I really "ready" for something like this? Well, ready or not, in a week or so, there are going to be some big changes around this place . . .

Expecting mom with her lunch packed and ready for work.

Our house is getting close to being ready for the new arrival . . . the baby's room is pretty well dialed in. I'm staining up a dresser and bookshelf so that we have a place for the clothes and baby books and such. There are always a couple more things you wish were checked off the list, but the details will take care of themselves.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Ha. Everyone has an opinion on this subject. It's good humor because the jury's pretty split on the matter, even though everyone's sure they're right. The only thing that would make think it might be a boy was something that flew by the screen in the ultrasound, but I really had no idea what I was seeing as the tech zoomed around the womb. It could have just as easily been the umbilical cord. And while it probably sounds cliché, I really don't care what gender the baby is--I'm just hoping and praying for one with all of the parts functioning normally. That will be plenty.

After work, the expecting mom isn't usually quite as spunky. The early evening nap has become a regular part of the schedule.

And after the evening nap, there's usually just enough renewed vigor to get us through dinner. Notice the shirt placement for easy baby viewing and monitoring.

Youch, look at those ankles! Stace's ankles and wrists have been going super-sized lately.

We've been staying pretty close to home the last few weeks. That's been a little tough, as the rest of Crested Butte seems to have gone to the beach to cure themselves from this long winter and slow start to spring that we seem to be having. It's even snowing out as I write this. The travel moratorium has been especially tough in the wake of Stacey's grandmother's passing. She was heartsick about not being able to go to Detroit to attend the funeral, but raveling that much at this stage of her pregnancy was out of the question. We did get to make a quick trip to Grand Junction last weekend for some shopping and visiting. We stayed with Beth Malone's parents, Bill and Peggy, and had a really nice time. Beth's sister-in-law, Cecil, was two days over due with her first baby--it was fun having the two preggo mamas around the place. They were a good source of entertainment.

:)

Beth, Stacey's maid of honor at our wedding, was up from California--it was great hanging out with her!

Tired mom, checking on baby. Look that crazy shaped tummy!

This shot is from last Monday, looking up the Upper East River Valley, just north of Almont. That's Round Mountain on the right, with the Butte just peaking up behind the ridge on the left. Spring's creeping up the valley slowly.

So Stacey's bag is packed, and loaded into the car next to the car seat. Now it's just a matter of Lucky being ready to make the big entrance. With a little pictofin secretion (or what ever that hormone is called that the baby's lungs put out when they're ready to breathe oxygen) to start labor, we'll be on our way to Gunnison Valley Hospital so that Stace can do her Uterus of Steel workout! Ha.

That's about it for now from Crested Butte . . . I'm looking forward to the next update having some baby pictures on it! We'll keep you posted!