Shower Time!

This past Saturday we had our first baby shower for our little lady. The shower was thrown by my Grandma, and aunts Joan and Ann- super aunts they prefer being called to great aunts :-) It was a great day and the baby coming is starting to feel more and more real.




My mom, Aunt Joan, Aunt Ann, sister, Shea and I, and my Grandma Baader at the shower




We received so many wonderful gifts and Ryan has just about everything put together already! The baby monitor is up and running, the mobile has been set up and cat tested and approved, and the high chair even made an appearance in our dining room for a little while (we have since put it in storage for the next couple of months). Ryan definitely has had the nesting instinct kick in :-) I am just waiting for mine so that I can clean out the cabinets in the kitchen to make room for all the bottles, bottle brushes, plastic cups, plates, etc to fit into our limited cabinet space.

My sister did inspire me to wash all of the newborn clothes in Dreft (baby detergent...thank you super aunt Joan!) to get ready for the first couple of weeks that the baby is here.





The little lady is going to be styling with all of her new clothes!






We continue to be busy, busy in the next couple of weeks. This week we have an ABC's of infant care class, an ultrasound, and a baptism class. We are definitely in baby mode. I figure the busier, the better- the time goes by faster. We have 25 more days of school left and then less than 3 weeks after that the baby is due!

Have a good week-

Counting Down

On Sunday I will be 30 weeks. Almost single digits for counting down! I am due 10 weeks from Monday. Those 10 weeks have so many activities/classes/showers crammed into them that I hope the time will go by pleasantly fast. We had an ultrasound this past week and our little lady is in her upside down (right side up in the birthing world) position and the doctor could not believe how far down she is laying/sitting/hanging? I guess I am definitely carrying low like they say you do when carrying a girl. Anyway, she was hiding her head (again!) and would not show the front of her face to us. I think she is waiting for her big reveal in June to show us her little face, or maybe she just thinks she looks the best from her profile :-)

School is going well for Ryan and I. I have started my sub plans for next fall. They are a LOT more complicated than I guessed they would ever be. It could be me too...I had a substitute this past Tuesday for the ultrasound and my sub plans ended up being 8 pages long!!! Don't worry they won't be that detailed for the 12 weeks. Anyway, I finished week 2 of 12 today, but I hope to have them done by the end of this school year.

Well, below is a picture of me and the little lady from her ultrasound this week. So you get to see her from the inside and out!

Spring Break Comes to an End

Well, Ryan and I had a wonderful 10 1/2 days off for spring break and we took full advantage of it by working on the nursery and seeing lots of family.

First- the nursery. We painted (well, Ryan painted but we both did pick out the color), ordered and received the furniture and have put the room almost all together. We have left a few projects for the nursery to keep us entertained and busy throughout the next 3 months. The cats have decided that we redecorated for them and you can see by the pictures below that they have made themselves right at home. My nephew Shea was here last night and he tried out the changing table and the rocker- I forgot to get a picture of him trying it out, but he was a little bit hungry so he wasn't really in the mood for a photo shoot.










Before picture- former guest room
















After picture...from guest room to nursery!
























The cats enjoying the room. I can only imagine they'll love the changing pad even more once we put the cover on it!

We got to see little Shea three times over break. We went to Iowa and stayed for a night and even got to babysit Shea a couple of times on our own for an hour or so. It is definitely good experience for what is to come. I would have to say we really appreciate learning how to use all of the "stuff..." The diaper genie, carseat, carseat base, bathtubs- it is all good to know. We also got to spend a day with our 9 year old niece Kelsey over break. She is very excited about the baby and had even gotten us pictures of sample kid/baby rooms that she liked. She is a very sweet/polite little girl and we hope our little girl learns these good things from her cousin!

I'll leave with a picture of Blue...during break he learned how to get into our food cabinet and find his favorite food...marshmallows. The marshmallows have since been relocated but he still is enjoying hanging out in the cabinet. Looks like we're going to have to install the cabinet safety locks a little earlier than we thought!

A picture update...FINALLY!

Above is a picture that Ryan took of me last week before I went to a spinning (stationary biking) class. I love that I am still able to spin at almost 7 months pregnant. I just strap on a heart rate monitor and make sure I stay below a number where it is safe for me and the baby. I still have plenty of room between my belly and the handle bars so I am hoping I can continue to enjoy this class while I still have the free time to do it!

I start my 3rd trimester and 7th month next week. Time is FLYING! Everyone said it would go by slow, but I feel like Valentine's Day was just yesterday. Anyway, we'll have a busy spring break next week with registering, decorating the nursery, and visiting little Shea in Iowa.
Have a good week!

Pictures of the Little (getting bigger!) Nephew

I have been getting requests for more pictures of my cute nephew. Well most of the requests have been from my nephew's mom :-) But he is growing to be such a big boy already so here are some pictures from the last week or so. He is getting close to his first smile. Enjoy!

Kicking!

Week 25 started yesterday and my stomach is growing quickly. I will post a picture of myself soon. (I never understood why pregnant people didn't want their picture taken...now I know why...I don't like to see the picture. BUT I do want to take pictures more often as I think I will regret it later on).

The baby is growing, growing and she is really starting to pack a punch with her kicks. I'm thinking a definite soccer player...Ryan might disagree :-) You can now see the movement coming out of my stomach so that is our new entertainment for the time being. At any rate, she must be getting bigger!

Well, the registering has begun. This weekend we went to Pottery Barn Kids and registered for our bedding. It was fun to see the different nurseries set up and it gave lots of inspiration for decorating. Anyway, my sister sent me a six page list of things to register for and why. It was very helpful and helped guide me to make my own list to organize us as we venture into Babies R Us over Spring Break. We have also ordered the Consumer Reports for Baby Products book and that should help guide us in our quest for safe, quality baby products :-)

I'll leave you with a picture of a rare moment of peace between our cat Blue and dog Howie. Their little bodies were thrown off by the time change yesterday and they were so tired that they both decided to nap in Howie's bed. A couple minutes after this picture was taken Blue kicked Howie out of the bed and took it for himself :-)

Lots to do!

This weekend Ryan and I realized we have a LOT to do before our little girly arrives.

On Saturday, we bought some sample cans of paint to test on the nursery walls, looked at lighting for the nursery (for some reason I am really over analyzing this aspect of the room), and we think we found the furniture for the room at Babies R Us. Just being in Babies R Us made us realize that we have a lot of research we need to do before we can even think about registering!

We had our doctor's appointment today and everything went smoothly. The baby's heartbeat sounded good and she gave a nice kick while we were listening in :-) The doctor told us we have one more normal appointment to go and then we start going every two weeks. That makes me feel like we are getting really close even though we have 112 days to go (yes, we do have one of those countdown devices).

Have a good week!