Almost at the finish line!

Well, this Thursday will mark 38 weeks carrying this baby girl and I can say I am more than ready to meet her! We've had two hospital trips in the past week - one for my hip (couldn't walk) and one for some pretty strong contractions...but no baby yet!  It is kinda cool to watch the baby's heartbeat and your contractions on the monitor though :)  I'm not sure whether she will be early or late or maybe on time, but I do know that we are ready for her!  We finally organized and completely finished the nursery this weekend and everything is ready to go.  I've even made a video to give everyone the official tour of her room.  Hope you enjoy!

In not so great news, our dog Winnie passed away Saturday morning.  She was an older dog, but a great companion to Brandon and me.  We have so many great memories of her and we're glad we were able to have her for as long as we did.

We'll keep everyone updated on the status of our baby girl, have a great holiday week!

Forgot the most important thing from the past week...I'm 2 cm dialated already and 50% effaced, which Brandon and I think is great news!  Woot!

A few more pictures!

The rocky statue!

Annabelle's Room

Annabelle's future rocking spot

This week marks 5 more weeks (more or less) until we meet our baby girl!  My parents came to Delaware for Thanksgiving and they helped us finish the baby room - all is done but a few final details!  Seeing Annabelle's room makes me more excited to meet her and spend time with her.  She is going to be a very loved little girl and the closer it gets to her birth, the more anxious Brandon and I get to meet her!

Dresser/diaper changing table (with Bianca in the bumpo)

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with my parents!  It was smaller than both of us are used to, but we made great food and 4 pies, yum!  The turkey was fantastic, having been soaking in brine for my parents drive up here - I now know how to make a great turkey!  It was great to finally have family in our home and we even got to spend a day in Philadelphia climbing the Rocky steps!  Overall, I was sad to see them go, but excited that I will see them again in less than a month.

The crib and my grandma's handmade quilt

As we head into December, there is a lot to look forward to in the Hammer house.  My birthday is at the end of the week, we are decorating for Christmas tonight, and my parents come back to visit the week after Christmas.  Not to mention...maybe the arrival of our little girl!  Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of family!

My diaper stash so far!

My parents helped with this project - chalkboard & magnetic

Our cool Ikea find - put together by Brandon!

Delaware and big bellies!

As we're nearing the 31 week mark of the pregnancy, I find more and more things I can't do!  Tying my shoes, for example, was quite the chore this morning!!  Don't get me wrong, I love being pregnant and feeling my beautiful baby girl move around inside me...but thank goodness there is an ending point to the madness :) 

I have to say the closer we get to the holidays, the more I am missing home.  It is always difficult going into winter - no one wants to be out in the cold and there are only so many times I can clean the house!  I adjusted to living in Chicago for four years in college, but I think this transition will be a little different and a bit more difficult.  Having a baby is something best shared with family and mine are far away!  I encourage anyone and everyone to visit - our apartment is small, but we can always find a place!  When Annabelle is born, we want to share in the love with everyone!

Here is a picture to share with everyone of my growing belly:

Looks are deceiving!  It definitely feels bigger than it looks!

Love you and miss you all!

Sarah

No drugs!

Well, I had my first bout of sickness being pregnant and let me tell you...it is not fun being pretty much without the necessary drugs to cure a sinus infection!  You can take a lot of things for a cold or for allergies, but sinuses create a problem - especially when they aren't working well.  Anyways, 4 days later I am about 85% back and able to pretty much fully function.  I must say, I was very useful as a bitchy, sick, pregnant lady when we went to the car dealership on Saturday.  I really don't think they knew what to do with me and all my complaining - so they decided to give me a new tire.  Goal accomplished!

Speaking of cars - we purchased a new car two weeks ago, a Hyundai Touring to be exact, and its great.  The only problem is that it was a "demo" car, so it already had 8500 miles on it.  We got a discount, had everything checked out, and life was good.  Or so we thought.  The tire pressure light has come on for us twice now and we have been back to the dealership three times to get it figured out.  Finally they found a nail in the back tire, fixed it, and sent us on our way free of charge.  Well it wasn't five miles later, I got out of the car and looked at the front tire only to find a nice bubble in the side.  So back we marched and 20 minutes later left with a new tire ordered.  The only thing I'm happy about is that all of this is getting figured out before the baby gets here.  Thank goodness for that!

We are settling into Delaware great and working on the baby room.  My parents come to visit over Thanksgiving and we'll finish everything up then!  I'm so excited to finally meet my baby girl in a few short months.  She definitely will fill our house with lots of love (and good cooking!)  It will be a fantastic January...or sooner!

Love and miss you all.

Can't WAIT!

I can't wait for Annabelle.  Now, every single thing I do I have her in mind, but I think in January I might cry because I will have a tiny hand to hold to show me why I do/live/work for her and Sarah.  I hope she is not as handy as her Mom though.

Settled into Delaware

Well, we're officially residents of Delaware and as of this afternoon, everything has settled into a normal routine.  In the span of a few days (during the drive to Delaware and after), my car and Brandon's car decided to completely fail.  That was not fun!  We were about 3 hours from Delaware when a belt came loose in my car and thank goodness for AAA - they towed us and tightened the belt in about 30 minutes at a cost of $30.  This was all with a car full of animals, so thankfully it went quickly.  Then we picked Brandon's car up from a friend's house and about a mile from her house his car died.  So we had it towed to a shop and resigned ourselves to one car for the week.  So finally, after all the fixing and wondering if we were in the market for a new car, we got Brandon's car back Monday and my car (after another problem) back today.  Yay for two working cars!

As we acquaint ourselves with Wilmington, I have been touring and evaluating local daycares and preschools in preparation for our baby girl.  I found one I love (Brandon has yet to see it) and of course there isn't an opening until June!  But I'm sure it will work itself out and I have a few more places to see in the mean time.  I can honestly say it is bittersweet knowing I will have to hand off my baby to others for even just a short time, but I love my job and a happy mom makes a happy child.

Brandon loves his work environment and I am adjusting to him having coffee every morning (much more "awake" than me).  Thankfully our workplaces are about 5 minutes apart, so we are able to have lunch every day before I go to work and then Brandon stops by the Y to work out after work.  All in all, things are relatively quiet and normal.  I can't wait to meet our beautiful baby in a few short months and welcome her into our lives.  I hope she knows how loved she is already!

Packing, packing, packing!

The one thing about moving is you really start to understand how much stuff you have!  We have been packing (although slowly) for four days and we are still not finished!  Pregnant packing is definitely less fun, that's for sure...but we're getting it done!.

In less than a week (four days to be exact), we'll be permanent Delaware residents!  Brandon and I are both excited and anxious to start the next phase of our lives.  Lots of change, lots of new things...going to be an exciting year!

One Week

Less than one week before we start our lives in Delaware. We had a wonderful baby shower with our family and friends last night. Who knew there was a such a thing as a baby spa? We are blessed with wonderful family and friends. How did we get so lucky? Karma and the golden rule.....

Let's keep the ball rolling.

-Dad to be

Letter to our family & friends

Family & Friends,

After a long couple of weeks of thought, lists and decision making, Brandon and I have made the decision to accept a job offered to me in Wilmington, Delaware.  I have accepted the role of Assistant Competitive Aquatic Director with Brandywine YMCA in Wilmington.  It is a huge step in my career and a giant leap for our growing family as well.  Brandon is excited about the opportunity to work close to three major cities (Philadelphia, Baltimore, & New York) and he has a great couple of leads already to work with when we move.  I am excited about working in a role that is everything I want in a coaching position and more (and a female head coach helps!)

We will be traveling to Wilmington this weekend to look at potential apartments and for Brandon to check out the area.  We appreciate all the support we have received from all of you in this process and we'll let you know more details as we get closer to the move.

Facts about Wilmington, Delaware

Love,

Brandon, Sarah, & Baby Hammer

Vacation and girls!

Well we just got back from Hilton Head last week and it was a fantastic vacation! We spent a lot of time with family and enjoyed the beach.  Our first full day in Hilton Head we were able to compete in a triathlon on the beach and we had an absolute blast!  I did the ocean swim as part of a relay with Brandon and his brother Matt and although it was a lot harder than the river swim of my first tri, coming out of the water as the second female was really exciting! Triathlons are something I can't wait to get into once the baby is born.

In other big news, we found out we are having a girl!  I am excited and so is Brandon (I think he's a little nervous too!) It means lots of pink and a very athletic girl :)  I am starting to feel lots of movement every day, which is one of the coolest things I've ever experienced.  She likes to kick and move around - she was very active during the ultrasound.  So everything is great and we're blessed to have a healthy pregnancy thus far.

Hopefully we'll have some other big news to share next week.  Enjoy the end of summer!

To drug or not to drug??

So we just got home from our second lamaze class and spent two hours talking about c-sections and epidurals.  Did you know that no matter if you get a walking epidural or more medication you cannot walk around?  That stinks!  It seriously makes me think about drugs.  I want to say I can make it through the pain...but we shall see!

In other news, we leave for a much needed vacay this Friday!  Woot!  11 hours of driving (more like 12) will be very much worth it when we are able to relax on the sunny beaches of Hilton Head!  That is, after another triathlon on Saturday :)

Just have to make it through this week of work!  Have a sunny week!

Triathlons, oh my!

So besides all this baby stuff, Brandon and I have been staying in shape by training for two triathlons!  We just competed in our first one on Sunday and it was a blast!  We swam 400 meters in the Ohio river (which was 85 degrees...hot!), biked 12 miles on Columbia Parkway and ran 5K through Sawyer point and friendship park.  Let me tell you, it was the most fun I've had competing since my senior year of college AND there was no pressure, heck I'm pregnant!

I was super proud of Brandon because he trained so hard for the swim part of it - swimming is the hardest part if you haven't had competitive swimming experience.  I'm pretty sure he swam more than me too, this hot weather has definitely not been easy on my body!  But anyways, the whole experience is something neither of us will forget (and it may be the only time I beat Brandon at something sport related, so I'm soaking it up!)

We will do our next one when we're in Hilton Head as part of a relay team with Brandon's brother Matt.  I think it will be a whole lot easier to just swim and leave the other two parts up to Brandon and Matt.  And I think I'll kick some butt in the swim!  So hopefully baby Hammer can keep up with my need for activity for a few more weeks, then I promise to slow down a little :)  Enjoy the heat everyone!

Our first lamaze class

Tonight was our first Lamaze class at Christ Hospital and it was fantastic!  Brandon and I had a hard time keeping ourselves "serious" because our teacher was hilarious!  At one point she was teaching us how to do kegel exercises (basically squeezing your vaginal muscles...glamorous I know) and had the guys do it too, albeit a little differently.  Anyways, she said in her last class one of the guys mentioned that Arnold Schwarzenegger said kegel exercises "make men better in bed."  So of course, all the guys wanted to do it (this had Brandon rolling already).  Then she said "but be careful...he might have been a little too good in bed!"  I think everyone looked our way after that because Brandon was ready to pee his pants.  And that's how we'll be known in class!  Our teacher also has a German accent, which makes it even better!

Anyways, class was fun and educational and I think we'll meet a lot of cool people.  We actually were sitting next to my old neighbor who lived down the street from us growing up.  Small world!  She looks exactly the same and is a couple months farther along than me, so it will be fun getting to hear about her experience.

We head to Hilton Head in a little less than two weeks to spend some time with the Hammer clan!  I'm excited to get away for some r&r before the baby comes and to see everyone from Brandon's family.  It should be a great vacation!

Have a great week everyone!

Yep, we're pregnant, woot!

Its been an exciting year for us!  In the past 7 months we have - gotten engaged, gotten pregnant (yes, planned), gotten married, and started/left our jobs...sounds like a lot now that I see it!  But it has been the most thrilling and nerve wracking 7 months ever! 

Brandon and I are so excited to start a family.  We have talked about it from the beginning and we both love to be around children.  We find out August 16th if we are having a boy or a girl (Brandon is secretly pulling for a boy...probably because with three brothers, he wouldn't know where to start with a girl!)  I will be thrilled either way, I just want a healthy baby to join the Hammer/Stone families.  He or she will be so very loved!


We will keep everyone updated on the status of my growing belly!  Stay tuned!