Sandgren Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving with the Sandgren's, we spent the entire Saturday before Thanksgiving day hanging out and having fun. We first went to Chuck-A-Rama to eat. It was nice to have such a big variety of food that was all you can eat, including dessert! Then we went to BYU to go bowling. I love bowling, and even though I was 28 weeks pregnant, I had just as much fun! After bowling, we went back to Vance's mom's house and watched the BYU vs Utah game and ate more food! Then we watched old home videos that were hilarious and quite entertaining! It was a fun day. So fun, in fact, that we didn't leave until almost 2am!

Before it Snowed...

Vance wanted to go for a drive and take pictures somewhere, so I quickly took the opportunity to have some alone time (since it's a rare occasion these days), and volunteered Mason to go with him. This satisfied all of us since Vance and Mason don't get "father and son" time very often either. He ended up going to the Bird Refuge in Farmington. If any of you have ever been out there, you know it's not the prettiest place on the planet. But with some of these pictures, you might just think otherwise... Okay, so after posting these pictures, I realized that they really aren't doing justice on how pretty they really are. So if you want to see a better view, just click on any of them to blow them up...it makes a difference. I was quite impressed with these pictures when he brought them home, so later that week he took me out there, and I was quite disapointed. I don't know where these pictures came from or how he made that place look so good. I guess that's a sign of a good photographer! I love these pictures of Mason he took! These are the pictures he took when he took me back there a few days later. I know this is a lot of pics, that are probably boring to all of you but I think they're gorgeous! Sorry :)

36 Weeks

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

35 Weeks

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

34 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

33 Weeks

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

32 Weeks

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

31 Weeks

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

30 Weeks

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

29 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

28 Weeks

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

27 Weeks

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

26 Weeks

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

Christmas Cards

So I know I have been slacking with blogging lately, but I have been very busy and side-tracked lately. Vance and I have decided to start our own business! We are going to be doing Christmas cards, and baby announcements to start out. We are offering to do Christmas cards for anyone we know this season for cost just so we can get the experience and get our name out there. If you are interested at all, please check out our website, http://www.lookwhoo.blogspot.com/. Our costs are as follows (these prices are only for you, not for the general public. Those prices are on the website): 4x6 card without envelope: $0.17 each. 4x6 card with envelope: $0.25 each. 5x7 card without envelope: $0.40 each. 5x7 card with envelope: $0.50 each. There are more details on our website. Also, if all of you who read this blog and have your own blog list on your blogs, will add our business blog to your list, we would really, really appreciate it. I know there are a lot of people out there who browse other blogs all the time, and this would be a great opportunity for others to see our business. We are still working on the website, as we are just trying to get things started, so it's not completely set up yet. However, it is getting too close to Christmas to wait any longer to tell people about the Christmas cards. I hope we're not too late already! We hope all is going well for all of you with the holidays! Thanks everyone for your help and support.

P.S. You'll notice there are different names on each card, this is just for business purposes :) Also, if you would like to leave comments on our business blog, please do not make them personal at all! Thanks :)