The Dad has arrived.

OK. So the baby isn't here yet. But its not too late for me to make my FIRST post to the "Team" Gustafson Blog. Many of you don't know this, but my presence on this site has been forbidden up until this point, but NO MORE! I've broken through, and I'm here to speak my mind and let all you web-o-philes know every stinking little thought that the new pappa gus's brain has.

First things first. Hello. Welcome to my blog (our blog). Thank you much for coming by. I hope that you're comfortable. Marina has done most of the decorating so far, but I plan on making a few "guy-friendly" improvements. Maybe some risque links, extensive sports coverage, spirits & lager write-ups, stuff like that. This is a blog for the people dang it!!! Lets gets this party started . . . .

The Dad has arrived.

When are you coming Baby G???

It is the day before D-day and we are READY! Constantly analyzing every pain, cramp, contraction, wondering..."is this it?" My doctor's appt last friday didn't go as well as I had hoped, I had still made no progress as far as showing signs of getting ready for labor, no dialation, no effacement...no fun. I had planned on stopping work last friday, but figured I'd go crazy sitting at home just waiting when I was pretty sure I had some time to go still. So here I am, STILL at work, wondering if he will ever decide to leave the temporary home I've made for him and enter the real world. Good thing is that I lasted until my parents got to Chicago. They flew in on Saturday and have now joined us in the waiting game!

So that's the plan now...wait. I've been pretty uncomfortable lately with back pain, headaches, overall moodiness and a ridiculous amount of Braxton Hicks contractions (enough "practice" already). I have another appointment on Thursday and I pray that at that point, we've made some progress, anything...a cm....1/2 a cm...anything!!!

Full Term

I've reached the final milestone, 37 weeks and baby boy G is officially full term and technically, I'm ready to go at anytime. Although, no need for excitment yet, I'm not ready to go :-) I had a doctor's appt today and everything is right on track. The tummy is measuring at 36cm, baby's heart rate is right on, my blood pressure is great, and as the doctor put it "your cervix is doing nothing". So unless I fast track into some crazy active labor, I think I'm good for at least another week until my next appt and then we'll see where I am...but I guess you never know. Everyone keeps telling me to stop being so sure that I'm not having this baby anytime soon, but I'm just not "feeling it" yet!

COUNT DOWN!!!!

Ahhhhh, ok, I just freaked out when I looked at my little count down ticker and saw only 29 days left until my due date. I also freaked out this afternoon when a co-worker reminded me that I was only 1 week away from full term and that some of them had their children at 37 weeks!!!! No, I refuse...4 weeks to go, I WILL make it to 40 weeks (ask me if I feel that way in 2 weeks!)

As you might have noticed, Corey and I are rapidly approaching the end of this wonderful journey called pregnancy. I actually have been feeling very good, probably the best of the entire pregnancy. I have a lot of energy for most of the day, am still pretty mobile, am getting good sleep and I think I'm hanging in quite well emotionally. I'm mostly very giggly and silly and have been pretty optimistic...but who knows when all that will come crashing down and I start screaming "Get this BABY OUT!!!"

I'm now also in full "nesting" mode and am making my way through the entire house analyzing every inch to see what we can get rid of, what I can re-organize and what I can sell on Craig's List. Corey has had to make lots of trips to the dumpster and our storage unit which is reaching (or may have already reached) max capacity. But, we are making progress, and with just a few more items left on the list, we are pretty much ready for baby!

We attended our birthing class this past Saturday at the hospital called "Great Expectations". It was way more informative than I had expected and I'm very glad Corey was there to remember all the details cuz it was way too much for me to take in all at once. It was also very comforting for me, I ended the day of learning feeling confident that Corey and I will get through all this craziness just fine and we might even do a good job at it!!!

Here's a few pictures of the baby's room (still in progress) but almost there!

The animals are trying to hide the printer which has no other place to go, that's what you get with a condo in the city.




Puffy Preggers at 35 weeks!

Flash back to the good ole' days at 9 weeks

Hello friends!

So sorry I haven't updated in forever...I've had lots of pics on my camera but couldn't find the cord to upload them to the computer! But it's found, all's good and here's an update on what we've been up to the last month!
(Still to come...pics of St. Patty's day!)

Make Room For Baby!

The time has come to completely clear out our second bedroom and turn it into the baby's room. Carol came over the day after St. Patty's day (bless her!) and helped me paint the room. I wore a very sexy face mask so I wouldn't inhale any bad fumes. It did a great job of keeping out the fumes, but I could barely breathe with that thing on!

We've moved in all the furniture and have started organizing the baby gear. I've definitely entered the "nesting" phase and must have something to do to prepare for Baby G at all times or I start to panic that we won't be ready. So I've been spending about a 1/2 hour a day in the baby's room arranging and planning...it keeps me sane! It's also been lots of fun opening all our shower gifts and setting all the gear up...it's taking a while to figure out how to use all this stuff!

Rudy & Tilly testing out the Pack-n-Play


Auntie Carol...the painting queen! We finished the room, 2 coats, in record time!



"Bring on the baby!"


Practicing with the stroller

Bugs, Butterflies & Baby G

Lisa, Kris, Pam and Carol all got together and threw me the best baby shower a preggers could ask for! They had such great food, amazing decorations and yummy yummy desserts! Thank you guys so much! Also, thank you to all those who joined us for the festivities. And for those of you who came in from out of town, a special thanks, it really meant a lot to me and Corey.

Here's some snapshots of the great afternoon!