38 weeks, 6 days.

Oh boy, I think I'm finally ready to admit that I'm sick of being pregnant. I was feeling pretty good until the last few days, now all the aches and pains are setting in. I went in for my 39 week check up this morning and was hoping that I had progressed enough to be told "it won't be long" but not so much. I have been dilated to 3, 70% effaced since last Thursday and nothing new today. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor for about 40 minutes today to make sure that baby is OK, I haven't been feeling a lot of movements yesterday and this morning and the heart rate was lower than it normally is. My blood pressure was quite a bit higher today but not high enough to induce. During the first 10 minutes on the monitor the baby's heart beat only spiked once, I guess they were wanting it to happen twice in under 10 minutes so they "shocked" my tummy and that got things rolling. Still no movement but the heart rate increased and all was well so eventually I was sent away. No contractions were detected during the monitoring either.

I was told last week that this babies tend to be like their siblings as far as due dates go, I had Kaitlyn at 39 weeks and 2 days, if we follow that schedule I expect this little one to be along Saturday, we'll see!

I feel almost ready. I started a new position at work and will be working from home in August, just doing the last minute things to get ready for that. The nursery has been cleaned out and the crib is back up. I didn't unpack many clothes because we're not sure if we need to be shopping for blue or unpacking the pink. We bought a yellow coming home outfit a few weeks ago and some plain white onesies, it's so hot that this baby will probably live in onesies for a while anyway. The car seat was put in the car two weeks ago and Kaitlyn has finally adjusted to be crowded out in the back seat, I think she is looking forward to being able to poke the baby from her seat, she was moved into the center so we could leave room on the edge for the dog. Hopefully that works out otherwise she'll get moved behind the driver's seat and the dog just won't be able to leave the house!

Tis the season for pregnant women, I know about 16 people pregnant now and almost 10 that have already had babies this year, it's scary to know that I'm next! I'm past the anxiety of being pregnant and raising a child, right now I'm focused on the actual labor. Hoping that everything goes as smoothly as it did with Kaitlyn. I love my doctor so I really hope she is on call at the hospital when I deliver however I know she is only there next Wednesday, I'm hoping it doesn't take that long for me to go into labor.

Andy, the fire fighter!

About two weeks ago Andy joined the Waverly Volunteer Fire Department and so far he loves it. They've only had two calls both of which were while he was at work but he was able to participate in a controlled burn (house) and a waterball tournament. Saturday was a gloomy day but it was the Waverly Community Fair and 4 local departments competed in a waterball tournament. Basically they have teams of three people and you aim your water at a can in the air and try to get it over a line, kind of like tug of war. In the picture above Andy is on the team to the left, he was in the middle. His team was out in the second round but he really enjoyed doing it and I finally got to meet some of the guys on the department that he is always talking about.

Andy has been keeping himself super busy lately. After 6 months at home with Kaitlyn he is now busy about 90% of his time. He is back working 40+ hours a week in landscaping and this week he will finish his EMR (emergency medical responder) training. He enjoyed the class so much that he decided to continue on and become an EMT. Last week he began his EMT classes, right now he is gone Mon-Thur at classes at the Red Cross in Minneapolis. Once he gets licensed he will be the 4th EMT on the fire department and will respond to the medical calls. This winter he will be put through 100+ hours of firefighter training, at that time he can officially enter a burning building, until then he just gets to ride along for any fires.

In addition to getting his education Andy is also looking for part time work, last week he interviewed with Canterbury downs, the horse track in Shakopee, as a security guard/EMT. If that works out then he will work weekends at the track so he can get experience and build his resume. He's excited about all of it and it's fun to see him finally find something he loves. He thinks he's going to deliver this baby because he took one day of training on child birth, that is SO not going to happen!

Kaitlyn and are I having fun "reconnecting" after I had a busy winter and didn't get to see her much. I think she misses all her fun times with Andy but we know that all this hard work will pay off eventually. His classes end in August and we're hoping that he'll be able to miss a few days in July for the baby.

Easter 2011

Pretty much sums up the relationship of the cousins! Kaitlyn was not a fan of cooperating and Alex is too young to understand.

Left to Right:
Alex, Riley, Wyatt, Lauren, Kaitlyn

Found her first (and last) egg. She didn't want to look any more after that, it had money in it.

Belly Pics

30 Weeks-at the cabin for fishing opener

24 weeks-St. Patrick's Day!

OK, I realize it has been a while since I've posted pictures. Only 8 1/2 weeks left!

Tinkerbell's paradise

Last weekend we finally got some time to work on Kaitlyn's new "big girl" room. We moved her into our spare bedroom and we'll be putting the crib back up in her old room for the baby. Since we've decided not to find out the gender and the nursery is very genderal neutral we decided it was best to move her and give her the most girlie room we can. The walls are already a pale purple so we don't have to do any painting just some new furniture and decorations. It's still a work in progress but we're eventually getting it all done. Her dresser is now full of clothes, we have to put up some shelving in the closet before moving that stuff and then decide which toys go and which stay in the baby's room.

"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning....."
Making sure dad is doing it right.

Supervising my dad and Andy.

The new bedding and "Kaitlyn" decal. I'm kind of surprised she hasn't tried to peel it off the wall yet, hopefully she doesn't think about it because it is not reusable. Her bedding has little lights in the comforter that are motion activated so it twinkles when she moves around. Thanks to my mom for getting it all, it looks great.

Jessie's 30th B-day bash

Jessie, Megan, and Leah
Sara, Roller Girl, Jessie, and Lah
The Bratwurst Brothers Polka Band-half time show
Jessie's official 30th birthday shot, taken just after midnight on the 6th. She got Crown Royal while I had sprite, you can't let a girl drink alone after all!

This weekend we got to celebrate the 3oth birthday of my best friend and Kaitlyn's godmother. My friend Megan and I made a fabulous Italian dinner for 10 friends then we all headed to St. Paul to see our first Roller Derby bout. It's an interesting sport, we're thinking about going again sometime. After that we headed to Uptown for cocktails. Lucky for us Kaitlyn slept until 10:30 Sunday morning so we got to recover, I was tired, Andy was "sick".

1/2 way there!

I'm officially 20 weeks and feeling good. This pregnancy seems to be going by really fast, almost too fast for me.

We had our 20 week ultrasound last Monday and Andy finally got to take a peek at Baby Burak. We've got a little gymnast, that baby was curled up into the smallest ball you can imagine, I told Andy "it" looks kind of like a hedgehog so we refer to the baby as Sonic now. We opted not to find out the gender of the baby and we were told that due to the position they wouldn't have been able to tell anyway. Guess we'll find out in July! Andy and I are both thinking it's a boy but we've got a 50/50 chance.

I'll have to take pictures and post them soon, in the past week I've gotten huge, or at least I think I have. No more sucking in this tummy.

Lauren's 4th Birthday Bash

Wyatt and Riley getting ready to go down the waterslide
Kaitlyn shooting water at people in the pool

Kaitlyn and my dad watching the kids on the slide, she went down once with Sean and that was enough!

The lion head spitting on me.

Party in our room!

No more monkeys jumping on the bed.....

Practicing his flying skills

MMmmmm.... Pizza!

My lovely maternity swim suit

The little kid's area of the water park

Taking a break

Riley and Lauren

Friday, the 21st we went to the Venetien Water Park in Maple Grove to celebrate Lauren's 4th birthday. It was a great "staycation" since it's only about 15 minutes from work. The whole family was there and had fun playing in the pools then we all spend the night in the hotel. Mom and Dad let the kids run wild in our room and jump on the beds, that is what happens when you play until 10 then go up for cake and ice cream! Once the kids passed out we played cards for a while.

Jason and Erin Chapman's wedding

Erin and Jason
Bette, Terry, Eileen, and Andy

Classic "talk to the hand"

Andy's cousin Jason got married last weekend. Kaitlyn had a blast, she danced for hours with all the little kids there, she didn't know any of them but it didn't seem to bother her.

I posted a few videos of her dancing.

Dancing Queen

Sorry I couldn't get it upright. This is Kaitlyn dancing with Andy's Grandma Eileen and her friend Anita at Jason's wedding on Saturday the 22nd.

Toddlers helping the grieving process

Just over an hour ago the world lost one of the biggest jokesters I've ever known. My dad's brother Marty passed away after battling many health problems. Sunday we spent the afternoon with him and had a good visit. His breathing with heavy but he was able to make fun of us every once in a while. At one point I asked what he needed and he said "well, I could use a kick in the ass". Later he propositioned the nurse, if she gave him a shot in the butt he and my dad would take her to dinner. I think she only came in to check the monitors but she was tempted to take him up on the offer. That is exactly the kind of person my uncle was, he always had something to say and he wasn't shy about it.

Kaitlyn saw me crying tonight and she said "Mom, why are you crying? Are you sad?" Then she got me a bath towel and wiped my face off. She ran down the hall and said "dad, come here, mom is crying, she is sad"

My niece Riley is 4, when my dad called from the hospital to share the news she answered the phone and said "Papa, is your brother an angel yet?" I guess having a toddler around helps with the grieving process.

Tonight there is a new angel in heaven and many heavy hearts left here on earth.

It's Official!

I had a successful doctor's appointment this afternoon. My doctor retired last year so today I got to meet my new one. Turns out, she is the doctor that delivered Kaitlyn. She is an absolute sweetheart and I'm looking forward to my visits with her. My last doctor was lovingly called "dr. fruitcake" by Andy. He was an interesting fellow and we never really hit it off.

Today I FINALLY got to hear the heartbeat. It was about 160 beats per minute so a lot faster than last time. It's such a relief to hear that and be on my way to my second trimester.

12 Weeks!

Well, finally made it to 12 weeks! Next Tuesday after my check up with the doctor we'll make our official "we're pregnant" announcement. So far just our family and a few close friends have been told.

On November 14th we found out that we were expecting our second child and we're both very excited about it. Somehow we were able to keep the secret until Christmas. I made a binder for my parents for Christmas, in it was a bio sheet for each grandchild and a recent picture of them. It included their birth date, favorite outfits, most memorable moment, etc. They went in birth order starting with Wyatt. The last page was a bio for Baby Burak and a picture of the ultrasound that was done at 8 weeks. Making up the stats for the baby was kind of fun. Favorite outfit was a "birthday suit", hobbies included swimming and developing organs, biggest achievement was having a strong heartbeat (148 at 8 weeks, 5 days). I can't believe that no one had a clue, it was so much fun to tell them.

I'm definately showing a lot sooner this time. I haven't announced it at work but I'm already wearing maternity clothes, I'm just waiting for someone to ask. The other day I walked by Andy with a tighter fitting shirt and he said "Oh my god! You're pregnant!" I replied with "Hmm, I thought I already told you" Evidently that was the first time he realized I was already showing.

Our due date is July 21, I'm hoping everything is on time so I'm out of the hospital in time for my 30th birthday August 3rd!

Random Holiday Pictures

Kaitlyn and Riley in the Calvin Church Christmas pageant. Kaitlyn was a stable dog.

Wyatt and Lauren's Christmas program at daycare

Lunch with Liz and Melissa, my theta ladies.

New Year's Eve