Pillow Forts & Pools

Well we've made it to week 35 - the countdown is on to 40 weeks!  Erin only made it to week 35, so it has really hit home with me and Brad that any day now, we could have a baby.  Eek!

Things we have been doing these last couple of weeks to prepare:

• I packed my Go Bag for the hospital, so whenever the baby is ready to make its appearance we can grab it and go.
• We installed the base of the car seat into the car.  Then we showed it to Erin and she really installed it.  Turns out you pretty much need to put your entire body weight onto it to get it in place.  Thank goodness for older sisters!
• Brad agreed that if I go into labor while he is at work, he will take a taxi (and not the bus) to meet me at the hospital.  That's right, his plan was to take the bus.  In his defense, it is nearly as quick as a taxi, but still.
• We haven't really been buying anything for the baby or its room (a little superstitious) but we can't take the baby home naked so we bought one onesie for a girl and one onesie for a boy.  Both onesies are cute though, so I guess we'll take home the baby no matter what gender it is.  
• We've been reading our baby books in preparation
• I've been wearing a back brace because this baby isn't the easiest thing to carry around.

Here is what we have been up to the last couple of weeks:

I have had a cold for the better part of a week that I just can't seem to shake.  Along with this comes not really being able to sleep, so I have fashioned myself a pillow fort!  I've been playing around with different pillow concoctions and have found the best positions to sleep in sitting up.  Is it comfortable?  No.  Do I get much sleep?  No.  Is it better than nothing?  Yes!

Last weekend, in dire need of relief for my back, we went swimming at the JCC.  Yes, all of the bubbies looked at me as I walked by with my big belly and seemingly little bikini.  Yes, the Herman boys did put toy animals on my belly as I floated and call it an island.  And it felt great!  Much needed relief for an hour or so.    

   

At first I was gaining weight like crazy and kept asking my doctor if my weight gain was okay and she would laugh at me.  Now my weight gain has really slowed down even though I'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week, and she's laughing at me again saying that yes, everything is fine and to stop worrying about it.  So far I have gained about 27 lbs which puts me right on target to gain 25-35 lbs during my whole pregnancy.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say as easy as it was to put on, I bet it will be hard to take off.  I am looking forward to starting my workouts again though - I feel like I have turned mushy, and I'm excited to get some muscles back.

Keep an eye out, we will be posting everyone's guesses for the baby survey soon!

Goodbye, feet!

Well, it's been nice knowin ya, feet, but the time has come for me to say goodbye.  Ladies and gents, this is what 33 weeks looks like.

This is now what I see when I look down:

 Goodbye feet!

With T-7 weeks to go, this baby sure is taking over!  

And here you can see the baby in it's natural state - extreme activity!

Baby Pool!

Family and friends,

We know you all have thoughts on what the baby will be and when it will come, here's your chance to put a wager on it. Winner gets to change their diapers for the first week!

Click the link below which will bring you to a SurveyMonkey page where you can make all your predictions. Please complete by February 1st so we can then post your guesses (also sometimes babies come 5 weeks early *cough Asher cough*).

Baby Stamm Pool

We can't wait to see what you're all thinking, thanks!

-Stacey and Brad

My New Short-Lived Carreer

As you know, I work part-time at Bella Bridesmaids, a bridesmaids dress shop.  The owner of the store was tired of models showing off the dresses and wanted to show what real bridal parties look like, so she asked us, the girls who work at the store, to be her models!  We sure are "real people" - ranging from 5'1 to 5'11, aged early 20s through mid 30s, two of us are pregnant, a variety of sizes, you get the picture.  Or better yet, I can show you the pictures!

We had our hair and makeup done professionally then headed downtown and took pictures in and around the Allegheny Country Courthouse which is a beautiful building from the 1880s.  We also took pictures outside.  Why not - it was a balmy 30 degree day!  We had on our puffy coats and when the photographer told us to, we would drop our coats and do what she told us - jump in the street and stop traffic!  Stand in front of this thing!  Twirl!  Laugh like you're best friends!

Without further adieu, here are a handful of pics from my modeling debut - at age 30 and 30 weeks pregnant.

New Year's Eve Weekend - Guest Blogger Brad

Hello all readers of The Stamm Fam blog!

Brad here jumping in as a guest blogger with an update on what crazy parties we went to for our last New Year's Eve without a child. First we pre-gamed with some Everclear and acid, then followed it up with some crowd-surfing at the club.
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If you're still reading this and haven't called either of us freaking out, either you did the same thing and aren't here to judge or you realize that is the furthest thing we would have wanted to be doing this weekend/ ever. In reality we hung out with Addie (see below for how we woke up pretty much every morning) the past week and a half we had the *joy* of hosting her, went over to Stacey's parents for shabbat sha-chanukkah as well as the college football playoff games followed by a nap followed by the ball dropping with Pitbull on.

On Sunday when most people are sitting still trying to recover from their night before we were hard at work getting the baby's room ready for when they decide to make their appearance. Yesterday we painted the baby's room a calm, gender neutral, bright but not too bright, greenish blueish but not too much of either one, mint. Because we have now painted every other room in the house (except the kitchen, see ya in 10 years possibly) we are quite the experts at it and have our roles down to what we're each good at and happy-ish doing. That said we are glad this was the last time we'll need to paint for many years to come. Below please enjoy a before picture after prepping, a picture after the first coat, and the job done. That's all for now family and friends, I'll be back later.