Two Showers and a Baby - Part #1

We were lucky enough to have two baby showers.  The first one was thrown in Columbia by some of our posse here.  

I work with some pretty awesome people.  I have been so lucky to make some really wonderful friends in Columbia - friends I was so sad to be leaving when, for a short time, we thought we might be headed to a new city.  I'm thankful to have good people around me every day.  On April 6th, Matt and I had the pleasure of attending a shower that felt like a happy hour/baby shower thrown by these lovely ladies. 

 [Hostesses from the left: Mackenzie, Katie, Leia, Nancy, Cassandra and Jessica]

And this lovely lady!  Isn't her Weston so darn handsome?

[Here I am with one more hostess:  Jayme + her son Weston]

 I'm not kidding about the laid back happy hour vibe - just what the doctor ordered for a Friday night baby celebration :-)

The girls went all out and decorated with an elephant theme :-) 

They organized a really fun baby trivia game which earned lots o' giggles.  

[We put on a good showing, but alas, we didn't win.  Our team was comprised of 

Matt, me, Liz and Beckie.]

We were showered with tons of books, gifts and a delicious cake with whipped cream icing.  The group went in together and bought darn near all of our cloth diaper registry.  Score!! 

[One of my favorite gifts was from Cara - a homemade quilt in our nursery colors of grey, white and yellow.  So soft!]

[The cake.  I definitely took the leftovers of that home and definitely had a second piece later that night.  I'm not proud.]

Thank you, friends!  We had a lovely time and are so thankful for your generosity and support.

34 Weeks

Well since on Monday (two days from now) we'll be 35 weeks along,  I'm yet again almost a week late in posting a picture.  Here's the bump at 34 weeks.  

The 34-week appointment was not too eventful.  Despite the official (and sudden) appearance of some unpleasant ankle swelling, my blood pressure is at its best yet and baby's heart rate is just fine.  She is still measuring very big.  So at the 36-week appointment we'll have yet another ultrasound to see just how much "bigger than date" she is.  

[Bumpin' along at 34 weeks.]

"Maternity" Photos?

I was not in favor of doing a maternity photo shoot. Who wants to spend lots of money to take pictures of a time when they are bigger than they've ever been, nothing fits right, and it's hard to just move? A lot of people, but not me. But then I got to thinking about it. Maybe I should put this time down in pictures to remember and to show my kid when she's a bit older.

Now, I have not avoided the camera during this pregnancy. Surprisingly, I've not been as depressed about my growing girth as I thought I would be. After all, there's a reason for my increasing size and it's clearly a baby bump, which I've been documenting monthly (and in the same outfit) just for the sake of remembering. But those pictures are not my favorite - in fact, I don't like them at all for anything other than bump comparisons. It doesn't help that I seem to take them right before bed when I'm looking my most tired and puffy.

Every year, I feel like I'm surprised at how beautiful the scenery is in the background of all of my Easter pictures. Everything is so fresh and green. So this Easter afternoon, I decided to suck it up, use the new camera, borrow a sister for a while to act as camera-lady (Mary was the first sister we saw), and drag Matt out for a "maternity shoot." It was free and we could delete without guilt if we needed to. And we did delete. Quite a few shots. But, to my surprise there were a few we were okay with saving.

So below are my personal favorites. Even though the sun was too high and we were squinty or in shadow in quite a few of the shots we took, I'm pleased with how a few turned out. At least pleased enough to say that I've saved a visual of the bump and that I'm satisfied with this shoot as an alternative to spending money on a professional set of photos.

Thanks for the photog skills, Murry!

Eggs and Candies and Bunnies and Families

Happy Easter!

Without any days off from work, we only had the weekend to celebrate Easter. That gave us enough time to make it to see the Missouri part of the family in Saint Louis for a beautiful spring day of Easter goodness.

[Easter 2012]





[Dying Easter Eggs]









[Easter Morning Goodies]





[Easter Pinata!]










[Easter Babies]






[Easter Egg Hunting]


[Easter Pictures]

32 Weeks

We had our 32-Week appointment today. Things are still looking good and baby is still measuring "bigger than date." At our 30-week appointment, we had another ultrasound that measured baby girl in the 71st percentile for size/weight. Not bad. But considering the fact that just ten weeks prior to that, she was only in the 50th percentile, her pace has picked up quite a bit.

Today doc just pulled out the measuring tape like normal, but she wasn't surprised to see that baby is up pretty high making it harder and harder to eat full meals/breathe :-)

Slow down, baby girl! Slow down! Healthy is most important, and bigger is not always better.....

[32 Week Baby - She is supposed to be over four pounds by this point.]

P.S. I just realized today that the last time I got my hair cut was in September, right about the time I found out I was pregnant. So this bump progression has accidentally been a hair length/thickness progression as well. I sure do miss my hairdresser, Tia, and my short bob, but think it will be better to have the long hair for convenience after Baby gets here.