Catching up from November…

I mentioned in my last post about Christmas cards (which are on their way – yay!) that we had a really busy November.  This time of year is always so busy between the holidays, our anniversary and of course, football season, but with a baby on the way, that just added to the hustle and bustle!   I already blogged about our anniversary, but since then, we’ve had 2 baby showers, 2 doctor’s appointments, family in town, and a holiday out of town!

First up – the first baby shower, which was thrown my my sister Katie, sister-in-law Kelly, and friend Amy.   The baby shower was on the 13th of November and I am finally getting around to sharing pictures! 

My sister made the invitations and almost all of the decorations at the shower – she’s so creative!

My sister-in-law made this adorable “bootie bouquet” behind the “cute as a button” chocolates.  When I brought them home, Matt seriously thought they were real flowers! 

Part of the spread – homemade from scratch cinnamon & caramel rolls courtesy of my dad! 

Melissa gets the prize for being the most off on the “guess-the-size” game; my grandma was almost right on (although it does look like she’s a little bit high as she’s going around the bump)

My sweet friend Liz MADE this quilt for Hadley!  So precious!

Some of the guests…

Baby James was all tuckered out after all the attention from the ladies

Family shot – my mother-in-law came up from Houston, my mom came up from Austin and my grandma came down from Minneapolis!

Matt and I feel so blessed to have family and friends who care for us and are so excited to celebrate with us during this time!   In addition to this shower, Matt’s office threw us a baby shower the following week!  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures there, but we had a great time and were so blessed by the people in his office as well! 

It Pays to be a Blogger!

I can’t believe November has basically come and gone since my last post!  November has been such a busy month for us – but we are looking forward to a slightly more relaxed December (assuming Hadley decides to stay put until her due date).  With December, comes Christmas preparations!  We already have our tree and lights up on the house (pictures to come…) thanks to my hard-working husband, and I started working on the mantle and other Christmas decorations around the house yesterday.  In addition to that, it’s time to order our Christmas cards!  Last year, I made our cards in photoshop and had them printed, but with all of the other baby stuff we have to prepare for, I don’t have time for that this year.  Lucky for me, Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers!  Can you believe that??  They have some beautiful designs too – check them out here!  I have been playing around with some pictures we took after our baby shower the other weekend to find one that will work for our Christmas card – I love photo cards! 

These Christmas invitations are making me wish (almost) that we were hosting a Christmas party this year, too…

 

Once Hadley is here, I may use Shutterfly to make some photo gifts for family members too   I really like their photo calendars!  If you’re a blogger – you can sign up here to take advantage of this great deal!  ENJOY!

3 years and 31 weeks

Yesterday I celebrated 3 years of marriage to my wonderful husband :) AND the 31 week mark in this pregnancy. 

We decided after our first anniversary to not do anniversary presents, (with it being so close to Christmas) and have decided to spend whatever money we would have spent on presents, on doing something together.  Last year we went to San Antonio for the weekend.  We stayed on the Riverwalk and ate delicious food all weekend.  This time around, I really didn’t feel like sitting in the car for a long drive, and with it being in the middle of the week, we just decided to stay in.  I cooked Matt’s favorite meal (lasagna, garlic bread and Caesar salad), Matt enjoyed some wine (I’m sure I could have had a small glass, but I think even with the doctor’s OK I still would have felt guilty), we exchanged cards and just enjoyed our evening in. 

Three years ago…

  And today…

Looking at this picture I am starting to see the baby weight spreading to my face.  Apparently I’m storing up reserves for the winter ;) 

Yesterday also marked 31 weeks!  Hard to believe that in 6 weeks Hadley will be considered “full-term” and could come at any point from then on!

How Far Along: 31 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 22 pounds (I think – I just realized that I didn’t ask the doctor about this at my last appointment like I usually do)

Maternity Clothes: Starting to get a little tired of wearing the same thing every single day.

Best Moment this week: We had our tour of Labor & Delivery last weekend.  I think it definitely made things feel a little more real for Matt, and it was a lot of fun for both of us to see the rooms we will be in and the nursery!

Gender: Still a girl for all we know!  - Hadley Ann :)

Movement:  I can feel her all the time now – in addition to the jerky little kicks, I can feel her rolling around and squirming in there.  She also gets the hiccups a couple times a day (and night).  They’re cute at first, but when they’re waking you up at 3am they lose a little cute-ness.

Food Craving: Food in general!  Hadley must be going through a growth spurt this week because I am hungry ALL. THE. TIME.

Sleep: Still not too much trouble here – I wake up once or twice a night still, sometimes because of Hadley kicking, sometimes to go to the bathroom – but I typically don’t have too much trouble getting back to sleep.

What I am looking forward to: This is actually happening today, but we are having a maid service come out for a quick cleaning and I could not be more excited!  Cleaning the bathrooms has become quite the task, and although Matt has “graciously” offered to clean while I can’t, he doesn’t exactly have the same standards for cleanliness that I do.

Belly Button: Still in, but hanging on by a thread

Symptoms: Still feeling pretty good – no big complaints here :) Although I have  noticed that the fatigue from the first trimester is starting to come back a bit.  Naps are my friend. :)

And here’s the latest belly picture…

29 weeks

I am now entering my 30th week of pregnancy!  Hard to believe there are less than 11 full weeks left before Hadley will be here!

Here’s a little bit about her right now. 

Baby's now the size of a squash!
Baby's energy is surging, thanks to white fat depositing beneath her skin. And since she's growing so fast (weight will triple by birth), things are getting kind of cramped in the womb. What all this means for you: Get ready for some more kicks and jabs to the ribs.  Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain.

How Far Along: 29 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 18 - 20 pounds (I think – I just realized that I didn’t ask the doctor about this at my last appointment like I usually do)

Maternity Clothes: Starting to get a little tired of wearing the same thing every single day.

Best Moment this week: This was technically last week, but seeing her in 3D was awesome!  I already shared the pictures below, but I know that is something we will treasure forever!

Gender: Still a girl for all we know!  - Hadley Ann :)

Movement:  I can feel her all the time now – in addition to the jerky little kicks, I can feel her rolling around and squirming in there

Food Craving: Nothing really in particular anymore

What I miss: Just being able to do basic things without being out of breath – I discovered that I can’t grocery shop and talk on the phone anymore.  Tried that this week and was SO out of breath I had to stop and rest for a minute!

Sleep: Still not too much trouble here – I wake up once or twice a night still, sometimes because of Hadley kicking, sometimes to go to the bathroom – but I typically don’t have too much trouble getting back to sleep.

What I am looking forward to: We have our tour of labor & delivery scheduled for next week.  Should be fun to see where we will actually bring Hadley into the world!

Belly Button: Still in, but hanging on by a thread

Symptoms: Still feeling pretty good – no big complaints here :) Although I have  noticed that the fatigue from the first trimester is starting to come back a bit.  Naps are my friend. :)

And here’s the latest belly picture…

Show Us Your Life: Nurseries & Kid’s Rooms

I’m a day late on this, and I don’t actually have the room ready to show off yet, so I thought I’d do a quick post on our choices so far for Hadley’s nursery. 

Here is the room right after we painted and had gotten in the crib/dresser:

Walking in…  this is a small room so it’s tough to take a good picture of it.  Paint color is Portobello by Sherwin Williams

Crib and Dresser are the Salerno line by Pali

This corner by the window is where the glider will go…

Looking back out towards the door (don’t mind the fan – I told you this was right after we painted!) 

I have the bedding already, but the bumper is in the process of being monogrammed by my friend Keely (check out her etsy shop, The Buggy Boutique – she makes the cutest stuff!) – so I thought I’d just share pictures of some of the other things we plan to do in here…

Here’s the bedding: It’s the scallop pique nursery bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  I am using different sheets than what’s shown, adding a different monogram, thanks to Keely, and changing out the ties as well. 

Here’s the glider we ordered:  It’s the Newco Taylor Classic Swivel Glider – ordered from Babies R Us.  I’m thinking we might have to order the ottoman that goes with it too for those late night feedings.

I’m still trying to find a rug I like for a good price, and same with window treatments, a book shelf and I think a cubbie system to help organize her closet.  Here are a couple of my ideas so far…

  Rugs: I’d love to get one of these in a round shape – but those seem to be so much more expensive!

Window Treatments:  The wall her window is on actually has a vaulted ceiling, so I’m trying to find a solution to being able to have a cornice board up there and hanging drapes from inside, otherwise I may just do a roman shade or some other type of shade. 

Decorations:

I’m going to try to paint a canvas with Proverbs 3:24 " When you lie down you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep with be sweet” on it to go over her crib.  If I can’t make it look cute enough I may try to find someone on etsy to do it for me!   I’m also painting a little H that I’m going to cover with scrapbook paper to go on one of her shelves, and I’m going to try to make my own closet-clothing organizers based on the idea I saw here -- http://blissfullydomestic.com/2009/baby-closet-dividers – and maybe a bow holder as well.  Hopefully I will have time to get all these crafts done with the holidays coming! 

I guess that’s about all I have to show – we don’t have a bookshelf picked out yet either, so no pictures for that yet.  Hopefully I’ll have some more progress on the nursery soon and can show off the final product! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Check out the other links on Kelly’s Korner for some more kid room/nursery inspiration!

3D Ultrasound – 28 weeks & 2 days

This morning we had an appointment for a 3D ultrasound.  This was elective, so we had to pay for it ourselves, but I think it was totally worth it.  We got some great shots (although some are more clear than others.)

Hadley was snuggled up with her “pillow” most of the time, like in the picture below.  She was asleep at first, but a couple big yawns and stretches later and we could tell we woke her up (the ultrasound tech had me bring a Dr. Pepper with me so we could get her moving around).

Stretchin’ out.  Love these little legs and feet! 

Little tiny ear

The first photos we got of her, her lips were all puckered up like this.   Mmmm… Dr. Pepper… this stuff is sweet!

Big yawn!  Ugh – do I have to wake up? 

I think this is the best full shot we got of her face.  I can’t wait to compare these to her first “outside” baby pics! 

We don’t have another doctor’s appointment until the first week of November.  At my last appointment, they pretty much said we are on “cruise control” until the 36th week or so.  I’ll try to be a little more regular with the belly pictures too, since I am definitely growing each week!

YOU are beautiful

I heard this song on the radio in my car the other day and literally started crying listening to the lyrics.  I love that this is the message God has for us – even on our worst days.  I hope this encourages you today!  I pray that everyday of her life Hadley will know how beautiful and treasured she is both in our eyes and the eyes of her heavenly Father.