37 Weeks: Nursery Reveal and Final Preparations

Well I only have three more weeks, aka 21 days, until my due date! Dan and I are so excited, and we can't believe it's so close. I frequently am amazed that this baby has been inside of me for eight months. The fact that he is now considered full-term and would probably be 100% healthy if he was born right now is so crazy to me. It really is amazing that people can reproduce and make little people.

Anyway, this past week I have been doing the final things to get ready just in case he comes early. We have everything in his room ready, we have his car seat in the car, we have our bags packed, and I even made a bunch of freezer meals with my friends. I am still going to make some more vegetarian ones, but it's not urgent, because we currently have 14 meals and 8 calzones all ready to go in there.

Here's a picture of (almost) everything I packed in his diaper bag. His going home outfit is on the left :)

Our freezer. As you can see, there is still a little room!

And now, for the nursery reveal! I absolutely love it. Everything is so perfect, and I know that even though it's going to get all messed up when he comes because we're actually going to be using things, it's fun to go in there and just look at how nice it looks now.

The recliner and lampshade I covered with leftover bedding fabric.

Our adorable subway art that I made. One for Nebraska, the Rockies, and the Jazz. Yay!

A straight shot of his crib with the banner hanging above.

The window, changing pad/dresser (I've had it since I was 3!), and crib.

The crib and bookshelf in the corner.

Bookshelf with all his little books, and my baby bag! In case you are wondering, yes it is all packed :)

The closet and the banner above it.

Half of his closet. Aren't his little clothes the cutest!?

The other half of the closet. Blankets, pacifiers, safety stuff, and bath things.

An inside look at the bedding I sewed.

Another shot of the crib and bedding.

So pretty much, if he comes soon we will be ready. We are hoping he doesn't come before the 22nd, because up until then Dan has a bunch of tests at school. But any time after that is good. I would be 100% happy with him coming before his due date because I am so huge and uncomfortable and excited and ready to sleep on my tummy again haha. You know you're very pregnant when you have to push yourself in three shoves to roll over in bed. For real.

And here's my lovely 37 weeks belly picture for your enjoyment:

P.S. For anyone who cares, my scripture cover tutorial that I made with Becca back in May now has 2338 views! Aka, that one post has 400 views less than this entire blog that I have had for a few years. I am very proud of myself :)

35 Weeks: One month left!

Disclaimer: this is a boring post.

I know I haven't posted at all yet this month, and I am sorry. I would use the excuse that I have been busy getting things ready for baby, but I pretty much did all of that before Christmas and now I really don't have much to do. At the beginning of the month, I made lists of things I needed to do before baby comes and things that he still needs, and I have been slowly checking things off those lists this month. I even have gone to baby classes at the hospital already. So pretty much everything is ready, I just have a few more things to do once we hit February and then we'll really be ready. For example, I plan to clean out the car and put his car seat in, deep clean all the carpets in our apartment, move the recliner into baby's room and Dan's desk into our room (I will be using Dan's muscles for this task), and packing my hospital bag and the diaper bag so we will be ready whenever it's go time. I start going to the doctor every week starting this week, so it's really starting to feel close. And if those things weren't enough to remind me that we may have a baby boy at the end of next month, my body is reminding me by giving me signs that it is getting pretty tired of being pregnant, too. Instead of being able to just roll over in bed at night, I have to use my arms and hands to push my body over because my hips and abs can't get the job done anymore. I also forget how far out my stomach reaches sometimes. Last week my stomach ran into a girl at a church activity. Lucky for me I knew her, but I was still like "oh yeah, I'm carrying a wide load around my midriff." And a few weeks ago, I was squatting down cleaning the lint out of the dryer and I just tipped over. There was no way I could stop myself, so I just let it happened. I didn't get hurt, and it was more funny than anything, but it was still weird. My ribs feel like they are being pushed out crazy far. And recently, I've just been getting so tired and fatigued during the day that even going to the grocery store makes me feel pooped and I have to rest after. It's just so weird being pregnant. But it's also cool, too. For example, yesterday while I was brushing my teeth I saw my stomach ripple when he moved. I don't really know how else to explain it, but he did it twice and it was really cool to see because I saw it in the mirror. You don't get used to feeling him move around inside you, and I know that's something I'm going to miss. But I will have a super cute little baby to look at instead, and that's definitely worth it. Five weeks left!!!

I had to change shirts because I was starting to stretch the other one out too much!

Oh and this was too funny not to share: 4 weeks vs. 35 weeks pregnant. Needless to say, I've filled out a little bit.

31 Weeks: Christmas and a Baby Shower!

This last week was Christmas and my baby shower. We were very lucky and had a white Christmas (even though it didn't snow directly on Christmas, there was plenty of beautiful white snow on the ground). We got a lot of amazing gifts from both sides of the family, and we enjoyed seeing my family's faces when they saw what we got them.

My mom and sister also threw me a baby shower on Saturday! The theme was books, and it was SUPER cute. I didn't have to do anything but come, and the decorations and food and people were all perfect. Here are some cute pictures:

A lot of the books had their own cute little snack to match, and it was really fun. The cake was a stack of books, too, so that was neat. We got a lot of adorable clothes, things we need, and things we wanted for our little baby boy. I can't wait to get it all home to Iowa so that we can finish setting up his room and closet!! We were really blessed to have so many great friends come and bring him presents to make his little life easier once he gets here.Thanks everyone!

As of yesterday, I am now 7 months pregnant, or 31 weeks.

Things are rather uncomfortable, and sleeping is not the greatest anymore. I can't believe that we can count down with single digits now how many weeks are left! December went by so fast, and now we only have two months to go! I signed up for a few different baby classes yesterday, and now that we have almost everything we need for him, it really seems so close! My tummy is so big, and it's really weird. Every time I go into the doctor they always say he's doing great and his heartbeat is strong and that I am measuring within a week of where I am supposed to be (my stomach, that is). Starting in February, I will be going to the doctor every week instead of every other week, and that will make it seem even closer. Dan and I are both getting so excited (if that's possible) and now the reality of having a baby is sinking in more. I know it's going to be hard, but there is nothing I would rather do than to be a mom to our little baby boy.

Mom's 50th Birthday Present

As some of you may know, my mom turned 50 on December 10th. My sister and I both pretended to have other presents for her, but we had secretly been working on a big present for her for several months. We contacted a bunch of her friends and family that she has known throughout her life and asked them to write a letter to her talking about their favorite memory of her. We called it "50 Years of Memories." A lot of the letters ended up talking about why our mom is special to people, and it was really an amazing experience as her daughters to read them all and put it all together. It turned out really cute, and for those who participated, I wanted to give them an opportunity to see how it turned out.

We put each letter into its own envelope, and using a Cricut machine, wrote the person's name on the envelope. Then we alphabetized the letters and tied them up with a bow and a tag that said "50 years of memories."

Before we gave her the letters, we gave her a wrapped box of tissues and told her we had a different present than what we originally told her. She thought that was pretty funny.

We made her open the box because we knew she would need it, and then we presented her with a second box that had the actual letters inside.

She was really impressed with how many people took time to write a letter for her birthday, and she enjoyed reading all of them. She actually read them all after church yesterday, and I know this because I walked into her room to find her sitting on the bed with tears streaming down her face. She was very grateful and touched by the gift, and she wanted to thank everyone who wrote her a letter.

Becca and I also wanted to thank everyone for participating and helping us out with this project. It was an amazing experience for us to see how many people our mom has influenced, and how much she has touched the lives of others in so many different ways. Thank you for all of your help!!

29 Weeks: Nurse Chelsea

This last week I went home to Colorado to take care of my parents. My dad had major back surgery on November 30th, and my mom had foot surgery on December 3rd. Needless to say, a little help was appreciated. Plus, my mom's 50th birthday was on the 10th, so I was able to maker her dinner and dessert. Dinner turned out great, but unfortunately, I forgot about my inability to make a proper layer cake. Refer to the picture below to see what I mean.

Baked sweet and sour chicken with jasmine rice.

There aren't any words to describe this one.

The week was pretty good, even though I didn't have much to do. I did get to make this cute Christmas Countdown calendar that my mom bought from a friend who put together all the pieces.

Even though I am happy I was able to help my parents out, I am glad to be home. I missed Dan, and that week was the longest we've spent apart since we were married two-and-a-half years ago. I came home to a cleaned out and organized garage (which I LOVE) and dog poop footprints on the carpet (which I cleaned up using a friend's carpet cleaner). We also discovered an exploded Diet Coke in the freezer, and cleaned that one out. So what I realized is that my poor husband needs me here, otherwise he tracks dog poop into the house, blows up sodas in the freezer, and eats chips and guacamole, cookies, and soda for dinner.

Also, I am now 29 weeks pregnant. In two weeks, I will have single digit weeks left. I had my gestational diabetes test the week before I left, and while the drink tasted like a melted pink Otter Pop (but in a bad way), it came back negative! I was incredibly happy about this, because as a vegetarian I rely on my carbs to get me through the day (and life). My body is quite uncomfortable, but I discovered that walking on the treadmill 30 minutes in the morning each day alleviates a lot of the pain in the evenings. I am sorry to admit this, but I have come to the conclusion that I do not like being pregnant. I have gotten some cute clothes out of it, and I will get an even cuter baby boy, but it has not been a fun trip.

27 Weeks: Christmas Decorations and the Third Trimester!

Well last week was Thanksgiving, and Dan and I got to go up to Idaho to see his family! It was super fun, and we had a really good time. Dan was able to spend a lot of time with his brothers, which he obviously doesn't get to do living in Iowa. We were able to relax and just enjoy ourselves, which was nice for Dan. We also found a saddle his dad bought, so Dan put it on his back and I got to sit on it for a few seconds before he didn't like it anymore.

On the way home, we had a 7 hour layover in Denver, so my family came out to see us and take us to an early lunch. It was great to see them, too. Becca was leaving that night from the airport, too, so my parents dropped her off at the airport with us after dinner. We had a lot of fun taking pictures on our phones.

Also, I discovered that my tummy is slightly larger than a basketball. This is due to the fact that my uterus is now the size of a basketball.

When we got home, I was allowed to put up Christmas decorations! So I went and bought us a new tree (because our two-foot one wasn't going to cut it in our new spacious apartment) and some other fun decorations from the dollar store. It turned out pretty well!

I am all ready for Christmas now! Decoration-wise, at least. As far as pregnancy, I am very happy that I am now officially in the last trimester of pregnancy! 2/3 done!! Hooray! Baby is very active and I feel him moving a ton. He is finally starting to make me uncomfortable, and I actually have started feeling pain because of him being inside of me. But it's worth it, so I can handle it. I have been eating more chocolate than usual, and I feel very round. My belly button is like a little lip because of its slow transformation to an outie, and it's sort of funny. Anyway, here is my picture at 27 weeks!