As December Fades

As December comes to a close, I am reflecting on the holidays we have recently celebrated with family and friends: Thanksgiving with my Mom, the Ingrams, Whitney, the Trifiros and Daniel; Hannukah with the Christensens, Shana and the Cravens; Solstice with the Ingrams, Whitney, Ma V, Ricardo, Ivy; and Christmas with the Galvans and the Yeagers. I am so grateful that Aurelia will grow up surrounded by such wonderful and loving people. Wow, what a lucky girl.

I am 39 and a half weeks pregnant now. Here is a picture Jonathan took of me on the 25th (39 weeks, 1 day).

In addition, here are some pictures that Shana Berenzweig took of me and Aurelia a couple of days after Thanksgiving. You can check out Shana's amazing work at http://ideallightphotography.com/idl/home.html.

We wish all of you a safe and wonderful end to 2009 and look forward to updating you once Aurelia arrives!

~ Happy New Year ~

Room to Grow

I am 37 weeks pregnant today. That's full terms folks. Woo-hoo! Here are a couple of pictures Berry and Whit took of me yesterday.

While there seems to be little room left for Aurelia to grow in her current space, her room here at the Kaplan household has more than enough room for her to stretch her legs and spread her wings. Jonathan and I are simply amazed at how beautiful the nursery is. Ian did an amazing job creating a wonderland within her four walls. Marcia and Henry got us a Flip video camera (thank you!!!), so you can see for yourselves . . .

All is well

 Jonathan and I went to my 36 week check-up yesterday and the doctors confirmed that everything is going smoothly.  For those of you who might be worried, I also got the H1N1 vaccine (without the mercury in it).  We had an ultrasound to confirm that Aurelia is in position and, yes, she is head down and ready to go!  During the ultrasound the technician switched the viewer over to 3-D to try to get a clear picture of her face, but Aurelia had her hand in front of her face, foiling any attempt to catch an early glimpse at her.

 I am very relieved in a way.  I was not at all prepared to see what she looks like yet because it would make waiting to meet her that much more difficult.  No, I want to meet her face to face.  So a special thank you to Aurelia for playing peekaboo or hide and seek, or just being shy at just the right moment yesterday to keep us in suspense!

 The nursery is even closer to being complete.  Ian put some lovely grass on the rolling hills in the foreground, and an inviting little beach along the waterfront cliffs.  He will return to fill out the canopy of the tree with lively green leaves and then I think we will set up the furniture.  Once we have it all arranged, he will return to fill in some wildlife to further enchant Aurelia and, frankly, everyone who enters her room.  What an incredible gift - thank you Ingrams and Daniel!

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving this year was awesome.  It was the first year Jonathan and I got to host my favorite holiday at our house and it was wonderful having family and friends come share in the holiday with us.  I made my first turkey here all by myself (using tips I learned from Henry Kaplan) and Yano carved his first turkey!  I was impressed.  Koruna had a big day - her first bite of solid food, fun time with Yoshimi and of course lots of time spent in the loving arms of her "Honey".  Time spent with family is priceless in my book and I hope that next year we can get an even bigger crowd here to join in the festivities - What do you say Kaplans?  Thanksgiving 2010, Texas-style?

We have so many things to be thankful for this year.  Not the least of which is that our little girl will be here soon!  I have gained the requisite number of pounds and the doctors are all very happy with my progress.  I was on "modified bedrest" for a couple of weeks because I was having contractions 2-3 minutes apart.  I was still able to work from home and go into the office a couple of days a week.  However, at our last appointment they took me off modified bedrest and gave me the go ahead to move about freely.  Fortunately, that little hiccup didn't last long at all.  I have my 36 week checkup this week and they will make sure she is head down.  They will also estimate how big she is now.  Here are a few photos from the past couple of weeks.  The first one is from 34 weeks, 2 days and the last one is from today, 35 weeks and 3 days.

Another thing we are thankful for is the amazing nursery Ian and Daniel are creating.  They have made a lot of progress lately and we think they will be done in just a couple more sessions.  It is looking incredible and I can only imagine how inspired Aurelia will be growing up surrounded by such beauty.  Here are some update pics of the nursery.

The countdown continues to Aurelia's birthday.  We are so excited to meet her and to introduce her to all of you!  Approximately 4 weeks to go . . .

A liftetime of conversations

Baby growing is in full effect right now. Momma is putting all her effort into growing our AA. Our little girl must know her Momma's voice as the one-way conversations between mother and daughter have started in earnest. Poppa has his conversations too. And in those conversations there is always a bit of wonder. A lifetime of conversations have begun. Seven weeks (ish) to go.

And so it begins . . .

  Due to overwhelming um, "support" from my family, Yano and I decided to start this blog.  Team Kaplan is about to get a new member and this is the best way we know to keep everyone posted on her stats.  I am nearing the end of my pregnancy and we are so ready to meet our little Aurelia Ayn!
  Ian and Daniel are hard at work on the nursery and Yano and I have been stocking up on all of the necessities for bathing, feeding and bedding our tiny addition.  As of Saturday, we also have a new car that will accomodate Aurelia and all of her accoutrements as well as any future little Kaplans that come along.  I think it is safe to say that all systems are go here at the Kaplan household.
 We will kick off this blog by posting a some pictures to get everyone up to speed on the ins and outs of our rapidly-changing lives here in Austin.  Go Team Kaplan!

 First of all, here are some belly photos from 20 weeks, 25 weeks and this week (32 weeks, 4 days!):

   

Here are some pictures of the nursery in various stages of progress:

And last but not least here is a picture of our new car, Pearl:

She is a Toyota Highlander Hybrid and we are just mad about her already.  The hybrid part is taking a little getting used to, but that is the most exciting feature about her.  So many things to learn . . .