Guess what...

A year ago my husband told me...

Now  it is time to give him what he wanted :)

It's my due date & The 1st day of school!

I don't know which is more amazing to me...That my 1st baby is starting the 2nd grade, or that I am officially 40 weeks pregnant today! As much as I could have been perfectly happy having our baby boy at anytime in the last few weeks I am so happy that Mike and I could focus 100% on Jenna this morning like we do every 1st day of school! 

She was so excited she was up and dressed before we were! This year she wanted a big girl bag instead of a regular backpack, but wasn't too big to give me loves when we dropped her off! 

Though I am limited in what I can do these days we tried to make the last weekend before school started special. Saturday was Kade 1st Football game. He did great :) I don't know who is more excited he is playing Kade or Mike :)  

 After we went to lunch to celebrate, and then seeing I needed to be home resting we got the kids some $1 bottles of shaving cream and water toys. We let them just enjoy the sunshine playing games for hours before calling them in to make homemade pizza and have family movie night! 

Sunday after church we spent the day with family! We had lunch with my parents, dessert with my sweet niece and nephew, and then finished up with Mikes family that afternoon!

 It was such a calm wonderful day for me! 

During church worship we sang a song song that I love! It reminds us that our name is known by God, and written on his heart. How much joy it was to know that God already knows my baby boy! He has plans for him including when he will meet this big world! How almighty is our God! 

How incredible is it that this week we will meet the perfect little life of my son that God made just for my family! 

Throwback Thursday Pregnancy Addition!

As I close in on week 40 of this dream come true I have gone from euphorically happy to be pregnant with Michael's son to being completely worn out and ready to not be pregnant with Michael's son! I haven't been able to accomplish much this week at all...

 Thankfully I had everything that needed to be done finished weeks ago! 

Now it is just a waiting game... 

In the mean time to stop stressing about when the actual moment will arrive I decided to look back on all the wonderful memories I have over the last 9 months, and I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing about this pregnancy! All the up, downs, and growing outs were this perfect experience of falling in love over and over again with a little boy I haven't met yet, and his daddy who gave him to me! 

38 weeks!

I can not wrap my head around the fact that it is August! I am so torn between the feelings of wanting to keep my baby boy with me all the time, and the incredible desire to finally hold him in my arms. Mike however keeps reminding me this is a one way game! One way or the other with in the next few weeks, no matter what I want, I will meet our son very very soon! I just feel like this part went by so fast! 

This weekend brought a growth spurt for sure! My ring no longer comfortably fits, so to avoid it getting stuck I am wearing a mother's ring with Jenna's birthstone that is a size bigger than my wedding ring :) 

I also noticed while watching a movie with the kids yesterday that my belly button is now sticking out on it's own with no help from Baby Reece!! 

I started 38 weeks with a trip to see my midwife this morning. She did an ultrasound to make sure little man is in the right place with his head down. He is!
She had my blood checked again, and my iron levels are perfect!
I am 1-2 cm dilated, so all those pesky contractions are doing their job! :)
My blood pressure is great and little man's heart rate is 140, so she is not worried about the swelling at all!
I have another appointment in a week if baby doesn't come before than!
Feeling pretty lucky that things have been so smooth with my pregnancy especially because  my pre-existing health condition could have kept us from getting pregnant.
God must have big plans for my sweet boy!

37 week Bump Update

How far along? Exactly 37 weeks today 

Total weight gain/loss: 31.7 lbs 

Maternity clothes: I have found that my dresses from last year are now working great as shirts for this year :)

This is me wearing the above shirt as a dress last Easter :)

Stretch marks: Same as last time, but not to worried as long as my boy needs room I am willing to keep growing 

Sleep: Sleep is good... no real changes. I am getting tired more often these days, but luckily have the flexibility to rest most of the time if I need it.

Best moment this week: Mike and I were just talking yesterday with  his mom when she was helping us (ok helping Mike) move in our new living room set how extremely blessed we feel right now. Things have been working great, and people have been so good to us! We are all set for our boy (his nursery is done and hospital bag is packed) we don't need anything else for him, and there is no pressure to get things done before he gets here. And all baby stuff aside we are still having a fun summer with Things 1&2

Last week we had Mike's squadron picnik where the kids had a blast catching bugs and fish.

Then Sunday we took the kids to get spoiled at Operation Homefront's Military Kids day at the zoo with our great friends the Malones. 
I worked a few days last week, but one of them was just to have my Work Baby Shower where I was spoiled by my work family.

Tuesday we had our birthing class while my little sister hung out with Jenna. When we picked Jenna up Eva surprised us with the Medela Pump Metro Bag we registered for. I think Mike could have kissed her he was so excited!  
Then Friday we went over to hang out with my brother and his wife where they gave us a car seat and stroller set that we wanted! 

Saturday we went to a free Family Sleep Event where we got 2 bags of free organic baby stuff like sheets, soap, and detergent. 2 Undercover Mama nursing tanks, and Mike and I each won a baby carrier. 
Then we had my work BBQ which was amazingly fun (I am bias as a member of the departments event committee ;)
Sunday was such a lazy day. I didn't wake up until it was way too late to go to church. We woke up and from the comfort of my couch while eating the yummy protein chocolate chip pancakes Mike made me I sold Jenna's bed that has been in our garage for 3 months and bought a new couch set. YAY the internet :) Then we had dinner with my mother in law, and then I caught up on my blog while Mike and Jenna played basketball. It was the lazy weekend this pregnant mama needed! 

Today was my weekly Midwife appointment, and it was one more week of everything being perfect on the pregnancy front! My strep B test came back negative, so that is great. I am measuring at 38 weeks which means little man is growing still, and his heartbeat is 143 which is right where it should be. I have another appointment next Monday if I am still pregnant by then. :)

 Miss Anything: As much as I could be done being pregnant anytime, and be completely happy with my pregnancy experience being done I don't miss anything. If I could have one thing right now it would be cooler weather I am so hot all the time! I am generally a the warmer the better, but no I am too hot!!

Movement: He has actually slowed down moving lately. Though daddy figured out that if he blows on my stomach his son will freak out and move all over! 
                                   

Food cravings: I have actually been eating less the last few weeks... at least at a time. Eating to much makes me feel sick to my stomach (probably because it has no room) I have been loving protein shakes and cheese sticks for when I should eat, but don't want to. I still love Snow cones, and like food that have vinegar even if it is just vinegar dressing on salad. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still just if I eat too much I get nauseous 

Labor Signs: Since Thursday I have 2- 5 min. contractions an hour 

Belly Button in or out: Mostly flat but if he moves at all it pokes out 

Wedding ring on or off: On and still fitting great

Happy or Moody most of the time: Super Happy and ready to meet my new little man! 

Looking forward to: Our last birthing class is this week! I can not even believe it! I loved this class so much it was such a good bonding time for Mike and I, and I am feeling way more ready for the labor process. 
I am just looking forward to relaxing and continuing to enjoy these last few weeks of anticipation. 

Nursery Part 3

So the nursery is coming together, and is officially my favorite place in the house! I love just sitting in my new refurbished rocking chair just taking in every dream come true this room represents! It is completely decked out in yellow, grey, chevrons, and safari animals!

Here is the view from his door :)
My mother in law bought us that awesome reclining rocker,
and my mom had it reupholstered to mach the nursery.  

Here is his Armoire/ changing table
This is my post  about how we made it
My friend Jammie got him the animal stands to hold
his toy box and box of books
My sister Grace got him the You are my Sunshine
lyrics sign for his wall 

Some of the pictures on his walls
to go in frames from my friend Amanda

A Basket I made to go downstairs for when he needs changed,
and we don't want to go to the nursery
Thank you to Amanda for getting us the basket for our shower :)

Turning an Armoire into a Changing Table

One of the 1st decisions I made about the nursery is that I wanted to use an armoire that came with our bedroom set that we didn't use once we got a house with walk in closet. 

My mom bought and set up most of the Changing Table for us as our shower gift. She got the Changing pad and cover from Babies R US. She made a Sunshine mirror for baby to look at himself while getting changed, and put a refillable soap for hand sanitizer next to his elephant a friend bought him that makes white noise (according to Jenni June child sleep consultant it is good for you to have white noise in nursery, but not to keep too close to the crib, so this is where our noise elephant will live)  

She added a dish drying mat that matches our nursery to protect the wood, and then got a small shelf to put the wipes warmer and different small things that are convenient to have on hand during  baby's changing!

Stick some scrapbook stickers on a shower caddy and you have a Baby Bathtime Caddy 

We got lots of separators from the dollar store to keep all his cute stuff organized 

My mom being the amazing grandma that she is even painted grey and yellow chevrons on the hedge hog to make the door hanger she bought match the rest of our theme :)