Samuel's Future Best Friend

We have exposed Clara to babies a few times in the past few weeks. I really thought she would just ignore them after the initial greeting... I was wrong.

My friend Abbey came to visit with her 4 month old Harrison. Clara decided to be very motherly. She gave him "kisses" on the face, hands, and feet constantly. Harrison thought this was hilarious. When he was fussy he would go check on him and we even found her hanging out by the crib one night while Harrison was sleeping. She would take her nap when he was taking his nap, but would jump up at the first sound of stirring from the baby.

We thought this would be a good opportunity to try out the new fence. However, our dog is too smart for that. As you may have noticed from the pictures we have two side yards that are both fenced seperately. If we put her in the fence on the west side, she jumps over the fence. There's a part where the ground slopes up and a brick ledge about 2 feet up where I think she is getting over. I have yet to observe this. On the other side she has figured out how to open the gate! What a smart dog! We've watched her do it several times now... I need to try to catch it on video. She puts her nose through an opening in the fence to flip the gate latch up, then walks around and pushes the door open. So, the fence isn't as helpful with the dog as we thought, but we are still enjoying sitting out there in the evenings. The good thing is, whenever she has gotten out (about 6 times now) she stays in the front yard. She's getting out because she wants to be with people and the people are usually inside, so she waits for us on the front porch to let her in. Just in case, I bought her a tag with our address and phone number on it.

So, this might be a rough adjustment period for Clara. She will likely spend a lot of time in her "house" (a.k.a Cage). We also stocked up on new bones and chews (no toys because she destroys them) to keep her distracted when necessary. But eventually, I'm sure Samuel and Clara will be "best friends." She is already sharing his toys...

Completed Nursery...

Here are some pictures of the completed nursery. I still have some things I want to do around the rocking chair, but they haven't happened yet... First, I'm bringing a side table and lamp up to put next to the chair. Then, I"m going to get two or three large frames for the wall behind the chair with small pictures of Baby Lutz in them and lots of matting surrounding them.

Oops, I guess the baby's name got out :)

And here is a picture of my belly at 38 weeks.

New Developments...

Baby Lutz is coming really soon! Only a little over a week until my due date! YEAH! As of my doctors appointment last week, there have been some new developments. Apparently, I have gestational diabetes. So, for the last two weeks of my pregnancy I have had to cut out all sugar and limit a lot of carbs. I also have to check my blood sugar at least twice a day. It's likely to go away once baby Lutz is born, but I'll likely deal with it for my future pregnancies and later in life. As far as the risk to the baby, they are mainly concerned with him growing too large. This could cause him to get stuck (OUCH!), or they might take him by c-section to avoid this. However, so far this pregnancy, he's been measuring perfectly on target. I have not even gotten that big during this pregnancy, so I'm not thinking it's going to cause any problems. Also, since I developed this so late (it usually appears when they do a glucose test between 24 and 28 weeks), Baby Lutz hasn't had a chance to accumulate the added weight.
I have a new sympathy for my dad, who is diabetic, with giving up the sugar! Up until this past week, my daily food consumption usually consisted of sugar cereal (my favorites were cinnamon toast crunch and cocoa puffs), kool-aid, marshmallows, and fudge bars after every meal (one day I had 4 :)). It's a struggle to cut all this out, but it's worth it for the baby! I'm adjusting my diet based on my blood sugar results and figuring out my body's limits, slowly but surely. It is definitely a healthier way to eat anyway and I will probably try to keep it up (with a few exceptions) even if the diabetes goes away when baby arrives.

Preparing for Baby

So, we are almost ready for Baby Lutz to arrive. I have a bag packed, the car seat is installed, and his bed is set up! I had an appointment today and there is no progression yet... Since, my mom had all three of us 2 weeks late, I'm not planning on him coming early (although it would be nice). I still can't really believe that he's about to arrive!

Part of our preparation for the baby was to install a fence. Our small yard connects to our neighbors small yard and we can see in their kitchen from our kitchen because our houses are so close together. By putting up the fence, we added privacy and also made it so we can hang out in our yard without feeling like we are hanging out in our neighbor's yard. We are also able to let Clara out without walking all the way around the block every time. I know you all would probably rather see pictures of other things, but I'm excited about the fence :)
Bud and Clara enjoying our patio... View of the fence from the front... Clara, trying to find a way out of the fence... She's not so thrilled about it if people aren't in there with her.

Baby Showers

I had two baby showers this weekend. My friends were really kind to me. They decorated beautifully, planned good activities, and were very generous! I have such great friends! Thanks to all of you who helped with these events. I really appreciate your blessings on our family as we anticipate Baby Lutz's arrival.
My family was also able to come to the showers. The Lutz's were here for one and my mom and little sister, Lauren, came to both. I was glad to introduce them to all our friends and celebrate Baby Lutz with us all.
Of course, being 37 weeks pregnant, all that activity wore me out! And now, I'm ready for a nap :)