31 Weeks! Down to single digits...9 to go!!!

Hello Everyone!  We are now 31 weeks along!  Time is still flying by!  The weather down here in Memphis is crazy hot - 95 degrees every day for the past week!  I think it is uncomfortable whether you are pregnant or not!  I am still feeling great and sleeping hasn't really been too big of an issue!  I'm sure in a few weeks I will feel differently!  Since Brian is now done with school for the summer, we have been able to go up to the pool together and get some sun and swim in this hot weather.  We have both gotten burned a few times, so the sunscreen is definitely our friend now!  We are heading to Iowa on Wednesday morning, June 8th and plan to hang around with family and friends for the next couple weeks.  We both haven't been home since Christmas, so it is a much needed trip!

This is a picture of our glider chair that was my grandma Edwards' and my parents had recovered for us!  They surprised Brian and I with it when they drove down for graduation.  We both enjoy relaxing in the glider - in fact, Brian is sitting in it as we speak :)

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is still the size a squash (just slightly larger than the past couple weeks...ha!)  He is roughly 3.5 pounds measuring about 18 inches long.  He has almost reached his final length, but he will gain somewhere between 3-5 pounds (hopefully no more than 5 pounds!!!)  He can already process information, track light, and perceive signals using all five senses.

A HUGE congratulations to Sarah and Chad Burgart (Brian's step sister)!!!!  They welcomed a baby girl on Memorial Day - Macy Mae!!  She weighed 7 lb. and 13 oz.  We look forward to seeing pictures of little Macy and watching her and baby Pete play together over the holidays!!

Have a great week!  Love, The Petersens

30 Weeks...10 to go!

Here I am at my 30 week mark.  I am still feeling pretty darn good, although the back pain has started setting in.  I had to invest in a good heating pad to relax my back muscles.  We just had our 30 week doctor appointment yesterday and everything is still looking good!  The baby's heartbeat was strong at about 150 beats per minute.  His head is down by my pelvis and his hips and rear end are by my belly button with his legs going across my stomach!  We both can't believe that in roughly 2 months we will have a baby!  Crazy!  Baby Pete's room is getting close to being done!  I inherited my grandmother's glider chair and my parents had it recovered for us and brought it down to Memphis when they came for my graduation!  What a pleasant surprise!  Not a day has gone by that I haven't sat in it!  I love it!

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is the size of a squash.  He weighs roughly 3 pounds and is about 17 inches long.  His brain is getting bigger and can now regulate his body temperature.  He no longer needs the soft baby hair, lanugo, that has been helping to keep him warm, so he has started shedding that hair.

This is a picture at our baby shower that Brian's school put on for us.  This is one of our favorite gifts of the day!  We got some amazing gifts, but the cyclone onesie with matching pants that reads "Cyclones" across the rear end stole our hearts!  The flowers behind us were even Cyclone colors!  Man, do they know us well or what!?

Here is a picture of his fellow 3rd grade teachers who put on this baby shower for us!  They made all the food, punch, cake, decorations, invitations, etc.  It was amazing all the work they put into making this a special day for us!  (Sorry these pictures are so small...when I try to enlarge them, they get really fuzzy!)

Most of you know that this past weekend I graduated from Optometry School here in Memphis.  It was a day I have been looking forward to and dreaming about since I started my four years at UNI.  I knew I wanted to be an Optometrist since high school thanks to Drs. Schuchert and Klepper!  This is Mom, Dad, Brian and I at the Awards Banquet the night before graduation.  I was lucky enough to have my parents, husband, and all my in-laws with me that night!  It meant a lot to me to have everyone there!

Me getting "hooded" at Commencement!  Baby Pete can always say he walked across the stage with mom when she became a doctor :)

Me receiving my diploma from the President, Dr. Phillips.

Below are some more graduation pictures...

Kim and Carter were also here to support me, but my picture of us is extremely blurry!!  I will post one of them next week after I get Kim to send me one of her pictures!

These are two of my best friends at SCO, Mark Schaeffer (left) and Blake Rust (right).

29 WEEKS!!!! WOOHOO!!!!



Today we are 29 weeks!  Almost to the big 3-0 and then our doctor appointments become more frequent!  I have a feeling that these last 11 weeks are going to go a lot slower than the previous 29!  Both Brian's and my family are coming down this week for my graduation from Optometry School!  Eight years of hard work is finally going to pay off!  We haven't seen his family since Christmas and I saw my family very briefly the first week of March at my grandma's funeral.  I think they will all be surprised to see the baby bump (even though we have taken a picture since week 14).  We are very anxious to have family come down and see us!  

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is the size of a squash this week!  Yay for a fruit change!!!  He is about 2 3/4 pounds measuring about 17 inches long!  He is within 3 inches or so of his final length!  Over the next 11 weeks, he will more than double his weight - maybe even triple!!!  Yikes! 

We had a baby shower that Brian's school put on for us last week!  It was very nice with lots of delicious food and we got some pretty awesome gifts for baby pete!  We received all the bedding for the crib as you can see below.  One of his fellow teachers took pictures at the shower, so I'm hoping to get some of those so I can post them.  Brian did a great job of being in the spotlight and made everyone laugh when he would open a gift and have no idea what the item was!  It was pretty hilarious!  He's pretty lucky to be at Altruria Elementary and they are lucky to have him!

28 weeks! YIKES!

We are only 12 weeks away from the due date!  Crazy!!!  I'm gradually getting bigger and bigger and getting off the couch at night is getting harder...ha!  Clipping and painting my toenails is a bit of a struggle so I may have to have Brian start helping me out with that!!  I'm sure he will love that!  HA!  I'm still feeling fine - just a little stomach cramp here and there.  Baby Pete is kicking like crazy and he is still the most active in the evenings, from 8-11 pm or so.  It's been fun watching my belly move all over the place when he kicks and moves around.

Baby Facts:

Baby Pete is still an eggplant!  He is now about 2 1/2 pounds and is 16 inches long!  His lungs are nearly fully mature - if he was born now he would likely be able to breathe on his own.  Until now his brain was a smooth surface, now the brain forms characteristic grooves and indentations on the surface - the amount of brain tissue also increases.  The hair on his head is growing longer and his body is becoming plumper and rounder.

My good friend, Kat Paulsen (blue dress in the front row), put on a baby shower for me this past Saturday.  Here is a picture of all my friends who attended.  We had a great time and I got a lot of really nice gifts!

Here is a picture of the train cake my friend and former roommate, Sarah Sweeney (orange shirt in front row), made for the shower!!!  She is so creative!!  The train cars even had animal crackers inside to make it look like a circus!

Another unique gift I received was this diaper wreath!  I had never seen anything like it before.  There are a bunch of diapers tied on with little toys strung on the front (rubber ducks, teething toys, pacifiers, etc.)  It is a southern tradition to receive this wreath at your shower before the baby is born and then take the wreath to the hospital and hang it on your door.  Once the baby is born you take it apart and start using the diapers.



My last day of work at Dr. Goldring's office was this past Monday.  It was bitter sweet for me because I absolutely LOVED working with these women pictured above and Dr. Goldring, but I'm obviously excited to graduate and start the next chapter of my life!  These women were like family to me and always looked out for Baby Pete (they called him Boo) and me!

That's all for this week!  Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Love,

The Petersens

27 weeks - going fast!

I am officially now in the third trimester!  The weeks seem to be speeding up...if that's even possible!  I think time is flying by because we have a lot of other excitements that are nearing: end of my last externship is next Monday, awards banquet before graduation, my graduation from Optometry School, Brian's end to his 3rd year at Altruria!  We will then be heading back to Iowa on the 7th or 8th of June and spending about 2 weeks there before we head back home to Memphis.  I start my residency on July 1st, so finding time to travel back to Iowa for the next year might be hard to come by.  As you can see from the above picture, we have the crib put together and in place in Baby Pete's room.  We have yet to decorate the wall behind his crib - looking a little bare at the moment!

Baby Facts for the week:

Baby Pete is still the size of an eggplant.  He weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures from head to toe about 15 inches!  He can be compared to a small pot roast.  He has more taste buds right now then he will have at birth, so he can taste the difference in the amniotic fluid when I eat different foods - he might even react to certain foods by hiccuping or kicking.  So far, I don't think I have felt him hiccup yet!

We were at the Grizzlies game on Friday night to witness them beat the Spurs, the No. 1 seeded team in the conference - 4 games to 2.  These playoff games have been a pretty amazing experience for us and the city!  Brian wanted to take this picture for my Dad!  My dad is a big fan of Beale Street and their "Beale Big Ass Beers."  Beale Street is directly behind Brian in this picture.  This picture was taken a few hours before Friday night's game and after the game, the street was packed shoulder to shoulder!! 

I took this picture from our seats right after the Grizzlies secured the win to end the first series!