The Little Monkey Has Arrived

We are pleased to announce that the Little Monkey has arrived.  We have named him Ryan Douglass Jansen and he was born at 8:33 pm on Friday, October 14th.  He is 7 lbs 2 oz and is 21 inches long.  He is currently under observation in the NICU at Mary Greeley Medical Center.  Mama is resting comfortably.

A few more updates

Since the last update we've had the baby shower and completed the nursery.  Thank you to EVERYONE sincerely, who came to the shower or helped us in any way.  The nursery would not be complete without you guys, and we would not be nearly as set as we are without your help.  The date is nearing quickly, and with just under 2 weeks until the official due date, we could meet Monkey at any time now.  :)

We've uploaded some pictures of the completed nursery, and a recent belly picture.  We are really happy with how everything turned out in the nursery.  We're excited for the end of the pregnancy and beginning of parenthood, and have been pretty relaxed lately.  We have no "last minute" things to be concerned about which need to be done, and again, that is largely thanks to all of the help we've gotten from everyone!  Charlie and Metea seem very content, and have already started protecting the nursery by laying in front of it, or following one of us into the room and laying in front of the crib; very good signs.  This will probably be the last update until Monkey arrives, and we hope to keep this updated at least monthly after Monkey arrives.  Otherwise, be looking for a text on the arrival!



Nursery with furniture...and puppy.




Completed nursery with monkey stuff...just needs one more monkey




Completed nursery-Crib, dressers and changing table



38 Weeks

Nursery Update

For the past couple months we've been slowly working on the nursery.  It started off with ripping off the wallpaper, sanding down the walls, retexturing the walls, priming everything, and adding sealant on top of the drywall since the wallpaper tore off down to the drywall.  Doug did all that "fun" stuff.  :)

Nursery before

After all that was done and the carpet protecting materials were lay down, the painting begun.  It was a process in itself to decide what colors to use, but we're both fond of "natural" earth tones, so we narrowed it down by those options.  We (obviously) had a theme going with Monkey, so that's how we ended up with green and brown.  It encompasses the monkey theme, earth tones, and is gender neutral.  We've finally finished the painting process, have the wall decals hung, and have put in a new ceiling fan with a dimming light option.  Krisdeena is particularly fond of the dimmer.  At this point it's a matter of hanging the blinds and valance, applying the outlet covers, and hanging a few more decorations on the walls that we made ourselves. 

 



First coat done



Of course, putting the furniture together as well, more pictures to come as we progress.  The hope is to have the nursery complete by September, and so far we're ahead of schedule.  With only 8 weeks to go, the time sure does seem to by flying by!





Nursery-Paint finished



Nursery complete-without furniture

Baby Shower Announcement and other fun things too

Everyone should have received their shower invites at this point, but we're announcing the shower on here just so everyone is aware or if someone lost their invite.  The shower will be on Saturday, August 27, at the Boone Pizza Ranch in Boone, IA from Noon-2pm.  The address is 1703 S. Story St., Boone, IA 50036.  **Note that on the invites is says "Story Avenue", it's actually "Story Street."  Sorry for the confusion.

Food and drink will be provided, as will the fun and entertainment.  We're having various games and prizes, including a diaper raffle, where 1 box/bag of diapers gets you an entry to win the grand prize!  No limit on entries ;-)  It will be very casual, just a time for everyone to get together, meet some new people, and catch up.  We hope everyone can make it, and look forward to seeing you there! 

Also, by popular request, here's a picture of the pregnancy tummy so far, at 28 weeks. You'll also find a small map at the bottom to get to Pizza Ranch once you're in Boone. 






28 weeks and 1 day



21.5 Weeks Strong and Growing!

Side profile of monkey

We had our second ultrasound today, and everything is going well.  The baby is measuring well and all is in working order.  We counted exactly 2 arms, 2 legs, 10 fingers, 10 toes, 1 nose, 2 eyes, a working, 4 chamber heart, stomach, kidneys, and all the inner workings of the human body, and the heartbeat is measuring at 150 bpm.  As promised, we declined to know the sex as we're just happy to have a healthy baby, so we're focusing on monkey's health.  The baby has grown quite a bit since the last appointment, and weighs one ounce less than a pound.  We are still on track for our due date in early October. 

Heartbeat measurement-150 bpm

20 week appointment delayed, but other good news updates

Well, we were supposed to have our 20 week ultrasound today, May 24th.  Apparently McFarland clinic doesn't have anyone on call for ultrasound technicians, because she called in sick.  They had to reschedule us for next Thursday, which is pretty irritating.  Here's to hoping she's not sick again next Thursday. :-/

In other news, we felt the baby move and kick for the first time last night, May 23rd.  It was pretty awesome to feel.  It felt like fluttering muscle spasms from the inside, from the outside Doug says it felt like a twitch.  Every now and then if monkey isn't kicking, there is a swimming sort of feeling, and you can feel it moving around, maybe decorating and setting up some decor.  :)

The Monkey's Registry

After a long visit at Babies 'R' Us, we completed our monkey's registry...thankfully they allow you to also register for items online, or we'd have been in that store for literal days.  Registering is absolutely insane.  We did a lot of research on which items we feel the monkey would need, which items we would need, or would help alleviate some stress or give us some convenience and comfort while taking care of monkey.  After we researched the necessary items, we then did some pretty intense research on which brands were best, and the reasoning behind the reviews.  We used Target, Babies 'R' Us, Consumer Reports, and various "mom" blogs to see which items were good, and which were not so good.  We feel very confident that our monkey's registry is a good combination meeting safety, convenience, health, and development needs of both monkey and its parents...us!

We've pasted a direct link to the registry for your browsing and perusing desires.  As the time gets closer, we'll announce the baby shower.
http://www.toysrus.com/registry/search/index.jsp?_flowExecutionKey=_cBB961E5E-1B55-C306-1CED-26EFE03BB2D0_k1356CE4D-DDAC-4366-C136-C533AE2A363E&overrideStore=TRUS