3 weeks

Today Caleb is 3 weeks old! I can not believe how fast the last 3 weeks have gone! It seems like no time at all since we brought him home from the hospital. At the same time he is already growing like crazy. He has out grown most of his newborn size clothing and he is staying awake during the day for longer periods of time.

As the weeks have gone by, I have felt better and better. The first week home I wasn't feeling so great, but by this week we have made outtings almost every day. I think by body has finally given in to the fact that I will be waking up every 2-3 hours every night.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks: After his first "real" bath (actually being submerged in water rather than a sponge bath)

First bath! He actually seemed to enjoy it!

He loves his swing!

He also loves his car seat and getting out of the house!

Due Date

It is October 12th-my supposed due date. I was thinking a few weeks ago that I may be writing a blog saying that the due date came and went with not too much excitement-but the exciting part is that our baby boy came a few days early!

On Friday October 8th Caleb Benjamin Hoffman was born at 9:03pm weighing in at 8lbs 3oz and a length of 20.5 inches. For those interested in the labor story, here is the brief version. On Thursday night around 10:30pm I started having painful contractions. Before too long I noticed the time between each was getting shorter and each one getting a little worse. By 4:00am the contractions were about 3 minutes apart so we started to get ready to head into the hospital. We got to the hospital around 5:30 and found out I was about 6 or 7 cm dilated so they got us right into a labor and delivery room. It seemed things were progressing quickly and that the baby would be here before we knew it, but we ended up "passively" laboring until 5:00pm. At that time I started to push-again thinking that it wouldn't take too long-but I had to push for 4 hours before Caleb made his arrival.

Our stay in the hospital was pretty uneventful, although a nurse was a little concerned that Caleb looked a little jaundice (but his blood work indicated he wasn't). We were able to go home on Sunday. We are so happy to be home and able to get into our own routine and sleep in our own beds! Today has already had a particularly "large" milestone for us at home-Caleb had his first poop (after all the meconium he pooped at delivery at least). It is pretty funny that we were so excited about it-but the nurses and doctors were slightly concerned that he hadn't pooped since delivery. So it seems all systems are a go! Also Andy happened to catch this diaper so it was the first poopy diaper he had ever changed in his life.

Ok enough of the boring stuff...I'll post a few pictures from the first few days of this guys existence.

Here we are in the middle of September and it seems the fall season is upon us. I am enjoying the cooler weather-I don't think I have ever enjoyed wearing sweat pants so much! The last few weeks have flown by as we have been busy with prenatal classes, assembling baby gear and making sure we have all the essentials for life with a baby. Andy was able to get away for about 5 days on a trip to the Boundary Waters with some of his buddies. I was a little nervous about this trip so close to the due date especially since there is absolutely no cell phone service there-but one of the guys had a satellite phone just in case I went into labor.

As of today, I'm 37 weeks pregnant-making me full term-so baby could come at any time now. However, I'm still hoping to make it to 40 weeks, but I may change my mind as the due date gets closer. There is nothing I can do about it anyways-baby is going to arrive on his own time. Lately I have been feeling a lot more pregnant (especially since I find myself raiding Andy's side of the closet for shirts to wear!) I have a harder time sleeping and I've noticed my energy levels dropping significantly. I have had a lot of braxton-hicks contractions, but overall I think I'm still feeling really good for being 9 months along.

I had two baby showers which were both so much fun. First, was a shower for me and my sister-in-law Jena (who is also pregnant with a baby boy!) put on by my mother-in-law Gail and my sisters-in-law Angela and Kelly in Andy's home town.

Here is Jena and I-her pregnancy is just 5 weeks behind mine-so these two cousins will have so much fun together!

We played a game where everyone had to guess how big our bellies were with a piece of yarn and then see who came the closest-it was pretty funny!

My mom and sister were able to make it for the shower.

And here are all the lovely Hoffman Ladies...Angela, Gail, Me, Jena and Kelly!

My second shower was here with my friends from Rochester and a few from college. I don't have any pictures from that shower, but I'll add some later. Both showers were such a blessing to Andy and I as we prepare for this baby to join our family! Thanks again everyone!

Well, with only 22 more days until the due date and the frequency of how often I update this blog-the next post could be news about the arrival of our son!

August has been a really busy month for us-but at the same time I don't have a whole lot to report on. Andy went camping with high school buddies, we picked out a paint color for our nursery (finally), I worked a few weekends, and we started our prenatal classes. Most exciting was this last weekend we got together with Andy's family for the annual Hoffman Extravaganza in the Wisconsin Dells. We had a great time relaxing, swimming, eating, and just hanging out with the fam. Here are a few of the pictures from the trip...

Here is the whole family hanging out in the pool overlooking Lake Delton.

Andy and I in our matching M&H Chevrolet shirts-pretty excited about the Ducks ride.

The whole family aboard the Ducks ride sponsored by M&H Chevrolet!

Wow, too much time has passed since the last update. I keep thinking that this summer is going by way too fast and has been way too busy. At the same time I feel like I haven't got much done either! What have we been up to the last few months?

• Andy has been keeping busy playing on two softball teams (and is looking forward to flag football this fall)
  
• I have been working on my sewing projects (see photos below)
  
• We managed to find a great deal on a new vehicle for me to drive - which will hopefully be more safe than my ditch diver
  
• Additionally, we sold my old car-and as Andy says we are "vibeless"
  
• We took a car seat safety class
  
• We both have been doing lots of swimming at my parents (can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the floating and cooling off)
  
• Visiting friends and family
  
• Finishing up small basement projects (varnishing doors and hanging blinds)

We have been thinking a lot lately about things we would like to do before baby comes. If you have any please feel free to share! We are both getting more and more excited about the arrival of our baby and are starting to do a lot more planning-we are in the middle of picking out a paint color for the nursery and other baby room preparations. I think we both feel the end is near for few reasons...


1. My best friend from college, Erica, just had her baby-an adorable little boy named Callum! Seeing them and visiting them in the hospital made us having a baby seem so real.


2. The due date seems to be just around the corner especially as I enter my 3rd trimester and 30th week of pregnancy.


3. Baby showers are coming up and we've made a few small baby related purchases of our own.


4. I feel like I'm getting "huge" even though I have a solid 10 weeks to go (see photo below)
Despite feeling large I still have been feeling great. Although, lately I've noticed myself being more uncomfortable and having a harder time sleeping. Over-heating also seems to be an issue. Baby is kicking and moving like crazy-Andy and I can often watch my belly morph into all sorts of shapes as this little guys kicks, jabs, and rolls.

Here is the finished product of my bumper sewing project. I was pretty impressed with myself for finishing something that didn't look half bad!

Now all I have to do is keep the quilt project moving-I have all the "piecing" done. Now I just need to sew it all together! I had a small melt down regarding the quilt last week-I just didn't like the way it was looking-but Andy helped me do some rearranging and convinced me to finish the project. So we'll see how I feel about it in the end.

I don't have too many pictures to share from the last month or so, but hopefully I'll get better about taking pictures so that these posts aren't so bland and boring. I hope you all are enjoying your summer!

This morning (Saturday) I woke up around 6:30 and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to start some of my sewing projects. I figured it would be best to start with the easiest one-Andy's father's day present. Since our baby boy will be born in the middle of football season I thought it was only appropriate that I make Andy a Green Bay Packers receiving blanket. Luckily I was able to find some Packer flannel at an online fabric shop.

The finished product:

As Andy can attest, I am terrible at keeping suprises from him, so he got his Father's day present a week early. He is excited to swaddle his future little Packer fan and watch some games this fall.

We had to make sure this blanket functioned properly-so it was tested out on Rocco.

It seems as though summer is in full swing now. It has been great to be able to relax outside and much to my enjoyment, take a dip in the pool (which is a great way for a pregnant lady to cool off!) For us, the summer season started off busy with my cousin Jess getting married Memorial Day weekend, followed by my sisters high school graduation and open house party just this weekend. It was really fun for us to spend a lot of time with the Zerbe extended family. Andy and I found some time to start some baby registries, which we discovered to be completely exhausting-so many decisions! Life should slow down just a little for us over the next few weeks. Although my time will be occupied by my overly ambitious decision to try and make a baby bedding set. I'm not terribly confident in my sewing and quilting skills but it never hurts to try right? If all goes well with that I'll make sure to post pictures of the finished products.



As for more news from "the bump":

• we are at week 22 of pregnancy giving us an estimated baby size of 7 inches and 1 pound

• we have started to feel the baby kicking

• we have an in-utero name for baby provided by my father : Chonan which is the Japanese moniker for the eldest son in a family
  

• we are now accepting all boy name ideas, although it will be hard to compete with my 3 year old nephews suggestion of "purple chicken nugget"

Here are some photos from our recent weeks....

Andy and I at Jess and Tony's wedding

Jess and Tony had the most creative way of displaying of unity. Instead choosing candles or sand mixing they chose a unity volcano...they are true science nerds at heart :)

Alexa Graduates!!