Weeks 29 & 30

Happy Fall Everyone!  I have been looking so forward to fall.  I'm so excited for the leaves to change color, the fall scents...pumpkin, cinnamon & spice, baking goodies, as well as seeing all of the tractors and combines in the fields.  It's a fun time of year and I just love the crisp mornings and evenings...perfect jeans and sweatshirt kind of weather.  

We have now officially hit weeks 29 & 30.  Nothing too special has happened over these past two weeks, so I just thought I'd share a few fun facts as well as some updated belly pics. with all of you.  So...often you hear of different cravings women have when pregnant.  Charlie has been pretty lucky as I can't say I've really had a strong craving for anything real specific, so I haven't made him run to town to get me anything special, but some of my favorites have been sweets in general, chocolate and specifically...Casey's Bakery Sugar Cookies with Homemade Frosting!  They are amazing.  When I feel like spoiling myself, I run to the bakery after work and treat myself to one (ok, I usually get one for Charlie too)!  

A Frosted Monkey Cookie from the Bakery

We continue to keep busy with house remodel projects we hope to get completed before Baby Z. arrives.  Recently we installed a new fan/light fixture in the living room, installed a new light fixture in the dining room and a bedroom upstairs and put a new sliding patio door in our dining room (a big thanks to our brother Ryan who helped Charlie with installing the patio door).  We also just received our counter top and cabinets for the island that we will be putting in our dining room, so hopefully that will all be put together soon too.  Just a few projects I'd really like done yet before baby arrives if possible...the remaining flooring laid in the bathroom, laundry room and entryway, duct work to the nursery and electrical outlets added to the nursery.  We are coming along!

Other than that not too much is new with us.  Tomorrow we have our 31 week appointment with Dr. Anderson.  This will be our final "monthly" appointment...before going in every 2 weeks.  I hope all checks out well as I need to get the "ok" tomorrow to fly next week with my sisters as we have a singing engagement in Wisconsin.  I have continued to feel good.  Just seem to be getting tired a little quicker and more often.  Other than that, I have occasional backaches but nothing to complain about.  I hope you are all having a great week and I will try to update in the next week or two to let you know how our appointment went.  

Weeks 27 & 28

Hello Family & Friends!  How are you all doing?  Anyone else out there noticing the change in seasons with all the allergens in the air?  Between the itchy watery eyes, sneezing and sinus headaches I am ready to be feeling better.  I just love fall though and can't wait for the changing of trees, the beautiful leaves that will eventually drop, the many fall scents, apple cider and so much more.  

It's been a couple weeks since I have blogged so I figured I better catch up.  Not too much has changed lately.  Things continue to go well for the three of us and as time goes on we get more and more excited for our little one to arrive.  

Two weeks ago we enjoyed a night out with the Zomermaand Family adults playing best ball out on the golf course followed by supper at Mr. P's in Le Mars.  We had a fun night with lots of laughs and catching up.  The next day we headed up to take in and participate in the Life Light Music Festival.  It was great to enjoy a few days off taking in the many Christian bands and meeting new people.  Sunday my sisters and I had the opportunity to share an accapella song of ours on main stage during the worship service which was a huge privilege.  Besides my microphone not working, it went well and I was happy to say I did not even forget my words with this "pregnancy brain".  We also performed a praise and worship set on the Kaleidoscope stage at 12:30 p.m. that afternoon and then a second set at 7:15 p.m. that evening.  We were the opening and closing band for that stage.  The weather was beautiful, we had a great turn out at both sets and everything went great.  It's truly amazing to see hundreds to thousands of people gathering in corporate worship together!  It gives me the chills and makes me excited just thinking of what it will be like in heaven some day.  This week also marks the week when Charlie & I finally nailed down our baby names.  We've had names pick out for a couple years already, but getting it knocked down to the top girl and top boy name can be a little tricky.  We put together a fun little spreadsheet called "Guess Baby Z's..." and are having our family guess that baby's sex, name, date of birth, time of birth, weight and length.  It's been fun to see what everyone's guesses are.  So far the guess of a "boy" far outweighs that of a girl.  I think the Zomermaand Family has hopes of it being a boy to even out the ratio of boys to girls on their side, however I think my side of the family could probably use another girl as right now the boys out number the girl a bit.  Either way we are all excited and are just continuing to pray for a healthy child.  This week also marks the first week of Braxton Hicks.  I got a little ambitious one night when Charlie was working and started cleaning and organizing and I guess almost "nesting" a bit just looking forward to getting ready for baby's arrival.  By the end of the night I could tell I had over done it and decided I probably shouldn't go at it quite so hard like that again.

 

Last weekend we attended two days of Childbirth Classes at the Sioux Center Community Hospital.  Friday night we had class from 6:30-9:00 p.m. and then again on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.  The classes were very informative and helpful in preparing and kind of giving us a heads up as to what we can expect.  For someone that is such a planner like myself...this class just kind of put me at ease a bit.  It was fun getting to tour the birthing center where we will deliver in a few short months and also getting to meet other parents that are in the same boat as us.

Then on Sunday we made our way up to Sioux Falls again as we had a concert at my sister Kelsie and brother-in-law Nick's church for their Sunday School Kick-Off Service.  It was a beautiful day for an outdoor service.  Besides the many bees that were swarming around us as we sang and the one that decided it would be a good idea to sting me, the services went great and we had a great afternoon of fellowship.  

Other than that we continue to keep busy.  This week Charlie and his brother put a sliding door in our dining room.  We thought it may be a good idea to have another fire exit in our house besides just the door to our house through the garage.  So...once again we have another house project going on.  Soon we will have to quit with all these house projects so I don't get too antsy that we are going to have unfinished projects all over the house when the little one arrives, but for now it's nice to see things getting done.  

We hope you all have a great rest of the weekend and a wonderful week ahead!   

Here are a few updated "baby bump" pics. I thought I'd share: