big brother basketball

We wanted to do something special for Bryce when Emmy gets here because we know she will be getting a lot of attention.  We decided to get Bryce a new basketball hoop because his Fisher Price hoop is too short and Jason's basketball hoop is too tall.  We were going to wait until Emmy was here and we were home from the hospital, but the need arose for the hoop today so we broke it out!

Bryce and Taylor were Jason's big helpers!

Bryce and Chase were excited when it was ready!  (And no, it really wasn't warm enough for shorts (freezing actually), but the boys couldn't play in the gym at church as we had planned, but they didn't care that it was cold).

I think he really likes it!

He even made a few baskets!

Bryce has already asked if he can go out and play in the morning when he wakes up!  I think he and Jason will be outside playing a lot of basketball while Emmy and I stay warm inside!

38 weeks and a growing boy

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 38 weeks

Maternity clothes: For a few more weeks (hopefully)!

Gender: Girl. Emmy Paige

Movement: Yep

Sleep: Good until about 4ish and then I'm just in and out of sleep and uncomfortable.

Cravings: Ummm, just about anything I can chew, ha!  I just can't stop eating.

Symptoms: Just feeling very pregnant.  I feel like my face has finally started putting on some of the weight. 

Total weight gain: Out.of.Control.  26 pounds.  That's up 2 pounds from last week.  Now my goal is to just stay under 30 pounds.  I feel like the first 20ish pounds were just baby, but the last 6 seem to be fat and I can see it in my face and legs, ugh!

What I miss: Being able to run off the extra calories I eat after snacking like a pig!

Best moment of the week: Another doctor visit with a healthy heartbeat.  Although, I didn't make any more progress this week.  Bummer!

What I'm looking forward to: Seeing Emmy!  I just can't wait to hold her and know she is here and healthy.

My baby bump and baby preparations have taken over the blog recently so I made sure to get Bryce in here this week.  My sweet boy is going to turn 3 a month from today.  So sad!  I just can't believe he is already 3.  There is no point in my life that I want to go back to because I just love the present and it always gets better.  However, I think if I could freeze time, now would be it.  Bryce is at the perfect stage right now and I just love it.  He is so smart, funny, playful, and loving.  I'm so glad I get to be his mom!

Emmy's nursery

Emmy's nursery is finished!  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  My photography skills leave little to be desired, but the color and lighting look even better in person.





We used all of the same furniture from Bryce's nursery.  The crib will grow with her and turn into a double bed when she is older.  I had the bumper, skirt, and window treatment custom made at Modern Pea Pod.

There is something about white wooden letters on the wall that I just love.  I forgot where I ordered Bryce's so I had to find another seller.  I really like the font of the letters that I got from Fun Creations.

The pattern of fabric I chose for the bedding was actually a set that you could buy in stores, but I didn't want the quilt and crib sheet that came with it so I was excited when I found the same fabric by a custom seller.  However, I was able to order the lamp shade cover to match from Babies R Us.  I ordered the crib sheet, boppy cover, and changing pad cover in a matching Minky fabric from an Etsy seller, Ella Bella Linens.

Bryce had a little toy mirror hanging on his shelf above his changing table and it provided hours of entertainment.  I decided to buy a more decorative mirror this time and I found this cute one from Pottery Barn Kids.  I changed out the ribbon color to match my color scheme.  Someone gave us a first year picture frame for Bryce to capture him each month.  I was excited that I was able to find the same frame for Emmy!  I'm going to put her birth announcement in the white frame.  I found the piggy bank at Home Goods for a great deal!  We're looking forward to having a video monitor this time.  I'm really loving the clock.  I found a seller on Etsy, Shelly, who painted the clock on canvas for me.  She was super speedy and the clock matches the bedding perfectly.  I have had so much fun planning a nursery for a girl.       

37 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 37 weeks (full term).  21 days to go!

Maternity clothes: If I have to!  I'm so over them and how huge they make me look!  My outfit again today didn't contain any maternity clothes.

Gender: Girl -- Emmy Paige

Movement: Lots of little pokes, but no real big movements.  The girls at school were enjoying watching my belly jump around at our meeting today.

Sleep: Not really.  I woke up Tuesday morning at about 3:00 and thought maybe I should start packing my hospital bag.  I had horrible cramps and lots of lower back pain.  It lasted about 3 hours and then got better when I took a shower and moved around some.  Last night I managed to get comfortable in bed and got a good night sleep. 

Cravings: Nothing in particular, but I just want to eat, even when I'm not hungry.  I could be happy if I just drank water from here on out.  I'm SO thirsty!

Symptoms: Discomfort.  My belly is just so uncomfortable.  I can't sit for long periods of time and laying isn't that great either.  I was about 2cm dilated at my appointment this week so we're moving in the right directions!

Total weight gain: 24 pounds.  However, after dinner out with my teacher friends for a "sprinkle" tonight, I may have packed on an additional 5 pounds.  Nothing better than sweet potato fries and chocolate cake!

What I miss: Being able to get comfortable. 

Best moment of the week: I had a great luncheon with friends and family on Saturday and a fun sprinkle with work friends tonight. 

What I'm looking forward to: A trip to Target tomorrow night to buy the last few necessities to get the nursery, diaper bag, and hospital bag ready!

watching the bump

I have had a lot of fun keeping up with  my pregnancy this go around.  It makes me really wish I had been better about it when I was pregnant with Bryce.  The first picture is week 9 and the last picture is week 36.

If it weren't for Jason, I wouldn't have been able to show you these images like this!  I'm so not computer savvy like he is.

shotgun shell shapes

Bryce really takes an interest in Jason's hobbies. Luckily they can double as learning tools. Tonight while I made dinner, Bryce made a diamond with Jason's shotgun shells (with no help at all).

castle building

Jason and Bryce had some man time yesterday while I got ready for my lunch with the girls.  They started off with breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then headed to Lowe's for a building workshop.  This week they were building castles!

Chase and Taylor joined in on the fun too!

His finished product, complete with a working drawbridge.

celebrating Emmy

I had a wonderful afternoon celebrating Emmy with the girls from my small group (from left: Beth, Melissa, Liz, Kelly), my mom (in fuchsia), Jason's mom, and Jason's grandmother.  My friend Beth hosted a fun luncheon at a cute little tea room called Feathernesters.  The food was delicious and I had a great time spending time with the girls and talking about girly things that my future holds!  The girls showered me with some really special things for Emmy.  After living with blue, monster trucks, and sports for three years, it was nice to see some pink and green in my life!  Our perfect little family is going to be complete when Emmy arrives.  Thanks to everyone for making today so special.  

  

countdown

I think Bryce is getting excited about Emmy's arrival.  I think he thinks she's already here or he just considers her here because she goes everywhere with me in my belly!  Today he told Jason he wanted to come downstairs and eat breakfast with me, Macy and baby Emmy!  We have been talking about making a chain to countdown the days until Emmy's arrival and we finally got around to making it today.  Bryce enjoyed helping write the numbers on the strips.

I think he would have been happy if I had just let him play with the stapler all day.

Every time we were ready to staple I asked him to get it for me.  He would pick it up and say "get the stapler" in this really crazy voice and the smirk on his face was just as silly.

Showing off the finished product!

Standing on the table to try and get the 27 link chain off the ground. Yep, that's right, 27 more days (give or take).

36 weeks

If you hadn't seen enough of me this week, here I am again!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 36 weeks

Maternity Clothes: SO.TIRED.OF.THEM.  My entire outfit in my picture today is non-maternity (except the belly band I had to wear to cover up the fact that my pants won't button).  It was a yucky rainy day and all I wanted to do was wear my rain boots.  Without skinny jeans in my maternity wardrobe, I had to turn to my regular clothes to put my outfit together.  Lots of people told me today that I didn't even look pregnant (the vest hides a lot).  Not bad for 36 weeks!

Gender: Girl. Emmy Paige

Movement: She is not as active as she used to be, but she sure does pack a powerful punch into my sides and ribs.

Sleep: Not too bad, but I'm still tossing and turning as it gets closer to time to get up in the morning.

Cravings: Peppermint Hot Chocolate from Starbucks.  I have not had any in a while and I just want it ALL.THE.TIME. 

Symptoms: TONS of Braxton Hicks.  I was hoping they were helping make some progress in an earlier delivery (even though I know she's not ready yet), but the doctor said yesterday that I'm only about a fingertip dilated.

Total weight gain: 23 pounds.  No weight gain since last week!

What I miss: Holding Bryce when he wants me to.  It's gotten to the point where he is just too heavy for me and it is uncomfortable for my belly.  Luckily he still likes to cuddle with me.

Best moment of the week: Hearing a healthy heartbeat at the doctor yesterday.  Not so best moment of the week is having Bryce at home with a possible stomach bug.

What I'm looking forward to: Showing off the nursery.  I've had a little trouble with the crib sheet I ordered, but when it comes in, I can tie the bumper on the crib and everything will be finished!  I'm also looking forward to my three day weekend!

just because I needed something to blog about

I got Jason to take my picture this morning because I wore my fun new boots I got for Christmas.  I don't have many brown things in my maternity wardrobe so I went out on a limb and wore my boots with black.  I wore them last week with a black and gray legging and dress outfit and that was pretty cute too.  At any rate, I was wearing the same dress today at almost 36 weeks as I was wearing at 21 weeks so I decided to do a side by side to see how much I have changed.  Luckily, other than my enormously growing belly, everything else has basically stayed unchanged.  This is a welcome change from my first pregnancy when my arms and face blew up bigger than my belly!  I go to the doctor tomorrow and I'm very anxious to see if anything has changed.  I have been having a ton of Braxton Hicks and I'm just more miserable than I remember being with Bryce.  I still have 4 weeks so I really just need to get over it and hang in there!  Happy Monday everyone! 

35 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 35 weeks..........35 days to go. 

Maternity Clothes: So tired of them!  My XS rouched shirts look way too tight and my size 2 maternity pants are getting tight.  They always say to buy your normal size in pregnancy clothes.  They fit great for the first 34 weeks, but nothing looks good anymore and nothing is all that comfortable. 

Gender: A Girl.......Emmy Paige

Movement: Feet in my ribs, elbows or knees in my side, and her head is really hurting my pelvic bone.

Sleep: It had been pretty good, but I'm waking up and tossing and turning for a long time before I get back to sleep.  I get back to sleep just in time for the alarm to go off, go figure!

Cravings: Movie theater popcorn.  I have been wanting to go to the movie theater just to get popcorn and go home, but it has not been convenient.  Jason had a box of store bought movie theater popcorn waiting for me when I got home from my first day back at work on Monday.  LOVE him!  Other than popcorn, I can't stop eating all the candy we still have around the house from Christmas. 

Symptoms: Oh my!  Don't get me started!  I feel like my belly has really popped out this week.  It feels huge and uncomfortable and that I could stick a needle in it and pop it!  I'm having a lot of pelvic pain when I walk and get up from sitting.  I just can't get comfortable.  I really wish I could wear my pajamas to school for the next 5 weeks.

Total Weight gain: I think I'm up to 23 pounds.  I really only wanted to gain 25 pounds this go around.  The 46+ pounds I put on with Bryce were not pretty!  I got a ton of stretch marks with Bryce because I was too lazy to care.  I put cocoa butter on occasionally last time, but not religiously.  I bought some Bio Oil tonight because I have heard good things about it and I'm just hoping that MAYBE I can reverse the effects from last time and work on what more I'm getting this time.

What I miss: Christmas vacation and getting to be home with Bryce everyday.  He's missing it too.  We were "snugging" in his bed tonight and he told me he wished I could stay home and play with him all day.  That breaks my heart when he says stuff like that.  I still dream about staying home.

Best Moment of the week: Getting our video monitor.  We decided to get a video monitor for the baby because there were so many times when Bryce was younger that we wanted to see him as he was singing himself to sleep and playing in his room.  We hooked it up in his room last night and we LOVE it.  We love it so much that I think we're going to buy another camera for Emmy's room and leave the original camera in his room!

What I'm looking forward to: I ordered a clock for the nursery on Etsy and it came in the mail today but I wasn't here.  I'm going to pick it up at the post office tomorrow and I can't wait to see it and hang it!

happy new year

I had hoped to do a 2011 wrap up and a 2012 intro, but that didn't happen!  So here we are on the second day of January and I missed out on all the fun at home today.  Somehow Jason was off work today, but I wasn't!  Bryce enjoyed his day with DaDa.  They started the day by making dessert for a couple at our church that we were taking dinner to tonight.

Who wouldn't want to help if it meant licking the bowl when you're done?!?  Macy even wanted to try some!

Sweet face!

Once dessert was made, they headed to Chuck E Cheese with Kelly and the kids.  Basketball is one of Bryce's favorites these days.  He's even starting to attempt dribbling a ball now.  Usually he just hits it on the floor and then rolls on it, ha!

We have been watching Frosty just about every night before bed.  Bryce was enjoying watching it in Kelly's car so we recorded it on the DVR one night so we would have it.  It just wasn't the same with the commercials though!  Tonight we happened to ride by Blockbuster and thought to go in and see if they had it....and they did!  I just love watching Bryce watch the movie because he laughs hysterically at the same parts every time and gets up and marches around the living room at the same part.  It just cracks me up!  I can only imagine how many more nights we will watch this before bed before Bryce moves onto another movie!

We headed to Sweet Frog for yogurt after our big purchase but I didn't get a picture.  Despite having to go work today, I still had a wonderful day with my sweet family.  I can't even begin to imagine what life will be like when Emmy gets here, but I know we will have twice the fun!