Maternity Pictures Sneak Peek!!!

A couple weekends ago, my friend Jes (who is the one that did the art in the nursery) did a belly photo shoot with us!  She's starting up a photography business and she is awesome...seriously...I wish I had just a pinch of her artistic ability!  She's great to work with.  Has TONS of ideas and is not afraid to position and give directions.  If you live in the Lexington area you need to call jes and get an appointment with her for pictures of your family!!  We did our pictures in the nursery, our back yard and then at an orchard.  I've only seen a few pictures and can't wait to see more!  Here are a couple sneak peeks!

To see more pictures and to read a cute blog that Jes wrote about our photoshoot, check out her website at jesmeeker.com

She has a package for maternity and newborn photo shoots which is so handy.  So she'll be taking Adalyn's newborn pictures within the first week of her birth!  I can't wait!

Thanks Jes!  We love you!!!!

38 Weeks

Yesterday was 38 weeks!!!  Less than two weeks left!  Yesterday was also my last day of work before maternity leave!  Which means that today was my first day off and it was wonderful!  I got the house straightened, the checkbook balanced, errands run and a lunch with Billie!  It was a great day!  I could get used to this stay-at-home housewife thing:)  Tomorrow I have a massage scheduled at the Baby Belly (it was a birthday gift from my MIL and SIL and I held off using it until I was completely uncomfortable and wanting a massage).  Friday I have a hair appointment, lunch with Jes, and my Doctor's appointment and ultrasound.  So this week is full but fun!  If we get all the way until next week, I might start getting bored because I have not one thing planned other than relaxing and reading blogs! :)

Here is my 38 week belly picture.

I'm pretty sure that I can't stretch anymore.  I think my stretch marks are getting their own stretch marks!  My belly is so unbelievably itchy that I can barely stand it...even with the lotion that my doctor recommended me use!  Other than that I feel pretty normal other than the usual aches and pains that a 38 week pregnant person feels.  Adalyn is still so active and I think she is ready to meet us!!!

Applesauce 2010

Growing up, my mom always made homemade applesauce and let's just say that I'm spoiled.  I can't eat the grocery store stuff because it's just nowhere close to homemade.  Billie and I decided last year to get together to make applesauce.  Remember this post where Billie was just as far along as I am right now and she was all cute and prego while we made applesauce?  Well we decided to do applesauce again this year.  We put it off a couple weeks due to sickness in Billie's household.  It ended up working well because since my parents were coming in town this weekend for a wedding, they brought us two bushels of apples from an orchard (they are wayyy cheaper back home than they are here!)

I didn't get too many pictures this year because we were busy working, but here are a couple pictures.

This magical machine is what makes it all happen!

  Stiring the new batch into the giant bowl of pretty applesauce.

  

Eli enjoyed helping!  He knows the goodness that comes out of this machine!  (It's crazy to think that next year at this time, Adalyn will be this age and Eli will have a little playmate to keep him company!)

From about 2.5 bushels of apples, we ended up with 44 ziploc bags of finished applesauce to freeze for the rest of the year! YUM! 

Another successful round of applesauce making!  It wore Jonathan and Eli out.  I don't blame them.  They did work SO hard... ahem... :)

Nursery 3D Model

Back when we were dreaming up what the nursery was going to look like, I was a bit overwhelmed.  I had some ideas in my head but I just couldn't get a full picture of what it was going to look like.  We chose some furniture but wanted to make sure that it would all fit in the room nicely.  So Derek, Billie's husband, offered to make a 3D model of the room and I took him up on it!  He is quite gifted and was able to help us with a good height for the chair rail, colors for the room, and decoration above the crib (although I think that may have been Billie's doing).  He was even able to move furniture around to see where everything would fit best without the heavy lifting that you would normally have to do when moving furniture!  It was great!  We ended up buying the furniture that he showed in the model because it seemed to fit well (and we really loved it).

Now that you've seen what the "after" pictures of the nursery look like, please look at these awesome "before" computer graphics!

Can you believe how he was able to replicate the furniture, rocker, and bedding?  And how cool is the light shining through the window?  It was so helpful to have a visual of the room!  It's awesome to have such wonderful friends who are willing to pitch in and help!  Thanks Derek we appreciate your hard work!

37 Weeks

Yesterday finished my 37th week!  I am now considered full term!!  How exciting! Here is this week's picture. (Please excuse the band aid. I got my flu shot today at work.)

It's a bit crazy to think about but next Tuesday is my last day of work before my maternity leave!  I had a few weeks of vacation built up so I'm taking off before Adalyn comes.   Hopefully I'll have time to get a much needed massage (a birthday present from this summer!), my hair cut, and a pedicure before she makes an appearance.  Although I'm ok if she wants to come tomorrow! :)  I just can't wait to meet her.

According to What to Expect, Adalyn is still the size of a watermelon (and boy can I tell!) and should be between 19-22 inches and around 6.5 lbs.  If we hang in there until next week I will have another ultrasound and we'll be able to see how big she is!  She was a little peanut last ultrasound so I'm interested to see if she's still small! 

I'm on to weekly doctor appointments now.  Last Thursday I was measuring 1cm and 50% effaced!  I'm not getting my hopes up since you can walk around like that for weeks, but it means that something's happening so I'm excited:)  I haven't experienced any Braxton Hicks so it's good to know that my body is headed in the right direction:)

I just can't wait to meet my little girl!!!  You can come any day now, Little One!

Nursery Reveal

The nursery is finished and I have finally taken the time to take some pictures of the room.  I had so much fun decorating this room with Adalyn in mind!  Although I must admit that now that the room is decorated and closet and drawers are organized and ready, I feel a huge relief!  I just knew I wanted to have it all finished before she got here...and actually I wanted it finished before my shower here at my house so that everyone could see it!

WARNING!!!!  This post contains LOTS of pictures and LOTS of pink and I'm not apologizing for it! It's my blog after all:)

The view from the door

 I love the furniture that we got.  Jonathan's mom's gift to us was the crib which converts into a full sized bed.  I love that the entire set will grow with her!  I have all dark furniture in the rest of the house but really liked this antique white for Adalyn because it just seemed so girly!

 Do you remember this post where Jes was painting this board? Here is the finished product!  Doesn't it look like it's just painted on the wall??  This way I can always move it!  Better than buying her name in vinyl! I seriously picked the font and Jes free-handed it!  The balls hanging over the bed as the "mobile" are fabric poms that my mom slaved away at! Billie found the how-to on a blog and I loved them so my mom volunteered to work on them.  They are really easy to make but a bit time consuming to make that many!! :)  But I just love how they look over the crib at all different heights and depths!

 This changing table converts into a dresser with a mirror.  But we aren't wishing away time.  We'll keep that mirror in storage for a while! :)

 Another original painting from Jes!  I saw this quote on Red Letter Words but the size of the print was too small and the price tag was too big, so I asked Jes if she could paint something with this quote and this is what she came up with! I love it!!  It means so much to me!  The wall flowers I saw on Young House Love blog and had to get them! They are so easy to install and way cute! The package came with 20 flowers so I even have some left over for another room! :)

 I LOVE this chandelier! I saw it in the window of a children's boutique and had to have it!  We were looking everywhere for a chandelier and couldn't find the right one.  When we saw this, J and I both agreed that we loved it!  Yes, it is covered in glitter so hanging it was a chore and my poor husband was covered from head to toe in glitter:)  My parents' gift to us was this glider.  It is amazing and if you can't tell, Dakota loves it.  Should be interesting when I'm trying to nurse!

 This is the pillow I made (with Billie's help:) - cording and a zipper are a bit tricky!)  I decided to make it double sided...why not?

 Bow hangers at boutiques are $40-$50 so I found this pink and white hanging at Hobby Lobby and it was supposed to be a pretty cork board.  I painted the letter "A" and attached it with hot glue and added the ribbons, hung it on a door knob hook (don't know why I didn't get that in the picture) and there you have a bow holder for $16!!

 The curtains were my big project!  I'm not sure if I'll ever tackle lined drapes again.  I got a bit frustrated.  It might have something to do with sewing on 9 ribbons and making sure they were all straight and exactly the same on both panels.  Or it could be because I was doing it on the floor trying to bend over my big belly!  Either way, I love how they turned out!  I think the ribbons really tie into the bedding!

 We are filling up the bookshelf!  Thanks to two showers where people were asked to bring books instead of cards!  Love that!  I wanted a place to just put some girly stuff.  Almost everything is either from Hobby Lobby (50% off of course) or the Two Chicks Barnyard Sale!  I have this same set of hooks (except bigger) hanging behind the door to keep the diaper bags on or to hang towels. I love the look of the door knob hooks:) 

 Here is a look at the closet.  I have tried to organize it as best as I can.  Jonathan hung some extra shelving and as you can tell, we've stocked up on diapers!

 As you can see, our hospital bags are packed and ready to go! (That diaper bag was at a consignment sale for $25!!) Is it wrong that Adalyn's bag is so stuffed?  I couldn't decide what type of blanket to bring so like any normal girl, I packed options!  (I also packed options for bows and hats!)

Ok little one, we are ready for you!!!  We can't wait to meet you!

I'm linking up:

Baby Shower!!

Today was my last shower.  (Which means that Adalyn came come any day now!)  Lindsy and Billie threw it for me and they did an amazing job!  The food was delicious and the decorations were awesome!  It was so much fun to see so many of my friends!  I had friends from college, two of my former banks, my current job, church and life!  It was a great group of girls:)

Why don't I think about getting a group photo at the time of the shower?  I have been bad at that for all of my showers!  But I did get some great pictures of the decorations and food!  And some pictures of people too! :)  I got lots of great gifts!  Many practical ones...diapers, wipes and bottles...hallelujah!  And some absolutely adorable specialty and girly gifts too!  I can't wait to actually start using it all!

Here are some pics...

Yummy Cake!!

Pioneer Woman's muffins!  YUMMM!!

 Both food tables (and all the food was labeled with cute cards - they thought of everything!)

Billie and Lindsy working in the kitchen.  Please look at the cute poms hanging and the specialty made table cloth for my island that Billie made! So cute!

 These were adorable...

 I don't want to take the little cupcakes apart!  They have her monogram on them! How creative right??

 Adorable homemade wreath!  Yes, this will be hanging on her bedroom door soon! I love it!

 I love this banner!  I have a feeling that it will be used for every birthday! I can't take it down because it's just too cute!

 Me and my 2 Jess'!  We were just missing our two other college roommates (who live out of town)!  Missed you guys:)

 Lindsy, Janine, Keagan, me and Billie.  So sweet of Janine to drive in town for the shower! It was my first time to see her since her shower earlier this summer and my first time to meet Keagan!!

 With my two wonderful hostesses!  I love you girls!  You mean the world to me and I'm so glad to have you as friends!  You did an amazing job!! I appreciate all your hard work:)

36 Weeks aka 9 MONTHS!!!

We have reached the 9 month point!!  CRAZY!  Here's the issue.  Everyone acts like women are pregnant for 9 months.  So why do I have another 4 weeks until my due date?!!? 

Here is my belly picture from this week.  It really has gotten bigger from last week! (Seriously.  Scroll down and look at last week's picture.)  I feel like it can't stretch any further, but I know it will... just add in more stretch marks.  At this point I wouldn't even notice:)

According to What to Expect, Adalyn is the size of a watermelon and is 19-22 inches long and 6.5 lbs.  I'm pretty sure she's not 6.5 lbs from her weight at my ultrasound 2 weeks ago (4lbs 10oz).  She's still active all the time!  I love feeling her move around. So sweet!  I can't wait to get her in my arms!!

So, many people have told me that I look like I've "dropped", so maybe she'll come early?? :)  My pregnancy has been quite routine and I can't complain about much.  But let's just say that the swelling in my ankles cankles and feet is out of control!!  I LONG to have normal feet again and be able to fit into my shoes and even my slippers! 

I'm going to the Doctor weekly now so we will get more regular updates!  In two weeks I'll have another ultrasound (if Adalyn hasn't come yet!) to see how things are and how big she is!  I can't believe she's almost here!  This weekend is my last shower. My girlfriends are throwing it and I'm so excited to see a bunch of my friends!!  So, after this weekend Adalyn is free to come any time!  (Maybe I should get on that long list that I've written out for my hospital bag... That might be helpful!)  Hopefully I'll get around to taking nursery pictures this weekend... It is finished and ready for her!

35 Weeks

Yesterday marked the end of my 35th week!  Only 35 days left!!! WOW!  I am so ready to meet Adalyn and I feel "ready" now that the nursery is almost complete and we own a car seat!  Although I have my shower that my friends are throwing me next weekend so after that weekend then I'll really be "ready"!  Oh yeah, and I found a "coming home" outfit but I need to pack a bag for myself before I'm truly "ready".

Here is my 35 week picture.

Last week we had another ultrasound!  Here are a couple pictures of our chubby cheeked little girl!

She is head down and in position!  She's pretty squished in there so we couldn't get the best pictures of her.  But we did get to see real time video of her and she was practicing her sucking the entire time!  So cute!  Our happy news is that my placenta moved and so we are all set for a natural birth (well as natural as an epidural can be!)  Thanks for your prayers!!  After next week we will start to go in for weekly appointments and then in 3 weeks we will have another ultrasound!  I just can't believe how close we are getting!

According to What to Expect, Adalyn should be around 19-22 inches and 6lbs.  But according to our ultrasound last Thursday, she was 4 lbs 10oz.  She's a little peanut (which I don't mind one bit for delivery!)  She's only in the 16th percentile but my doctor said that she's a perfect size for how far along I am!  She is constantly moving all day!  The ultrasound tech made a comment about how active she was when we were trying to get her picture. 

Last weekend we went to Gatlinburg with some couples from our Sunday school class and did some serious outlet shopping!  We got some great deals on things that we already needed (like pj's and onsies and a diaper bag)!  We had a good weekend and no, I never once pulled our camera out to take a picture!

This coming weekend is our maternity photo shoot with Jes!  I'm so excited!  We're going to do the pictures at the orchard and I can't wait.  You better believe I will be posting the pictures as soon as I have them!  After the pictures we're going to do our annual apple and pumpkin picking and then the next day we will spend in the kitchen making applesauce.  (That apple sauce will be great baby food next year!!)