38

My view of a belly at 38 weeks. Almost showtime!

Officially full term and only 2 weeks shy of The Due Date. Trying hard to be patient, and enjoy these last few weeks (days?!) of pregnancy and the anticipation of the adventures of parenthood to come. Yes, It's hot outside. Yes, my belly is big and it bumps into things. Yes, I get cramps in my hips and legs while sleeping and have to constantly rearrange myself and a pile of pillows too many times each night. Despite all of these things, I'm enjoying these moments in between. We cannot wait to meet our little one and while I'm feeling major ants in my pants and have the looming question of "WHEN?!" running through my mind, I'm in a good place. I know that baby will come on the day meant to be his/her Birth Day and that it's all part of a plan bigger than any of us. This post is just to say that I am thankful that I've made it through 38 weeks in good health and only a few issues that I've been able to manage pretty well. (And we could use a few more days to pick out your name, Little One, so no pressure to come out this week.). :)

Spoiled Already

A few weeks ago, my parents threw our wee one a baby shower in Pittsburgh (my hometown). Because it is summer and we already had the frou frou bridal shower a few years ago, J and I just wanted to hang out with our friends and family and enjoy their company cookout style. We didn't want a big fuss- just a fun day for all of our friends (male and female, adult and child) to come hang out with us before the baby makes his/her debut. 

My parents worked hard for WEEKS cleaning the house, tidying up the yard, and making preparations for their third grandchild's shower. They even had some work done on the house just in time for the shower- new floors, painted half of their first floor, got a new deck, etc. It wasn't all for the shower, but we'll tell baby it was. haha

My mom set up a cute little buffet. On the menu: yummy chicken, salad, cheesy potatoes, mini sandwiches, and even eggplant rollatini from our wedding venue. Very casual and delicious!


For dessert, brightly colored cupcakes and cookies and some of that awesome jello pretzel salad- have you ever tried it? Yum. Wish I had some right now.



Decor was minimal, but we did set out a photo matte with baby's first ultrasound photo for our guests to sign and surrounded it with baby photos of J and I. 


After dinner, we opened up all of baby's gifts. 


It was nice to have J up there to help me, as my lap seems to have gotten smaller over the past few months and I was having a hard time hanging on to the bigger boxes!



Baby is already spoiled and got so many great things from our generous friends and fam!

After we opened gifts, we just hung out and enjoyed the hot summer evening. 

From left to right, my younger sister, mom, soon-to-be mommy Laudacious, and my sister-in-law
One of my lifelong friends with her husband, cutie pie baby girl and I
My besties from forever ago. Some of these girls I've known since elementary school
Of particular excitement was being able to introduce my baby bump to the baby bump of my dear friend from 3rd grade. She is expecting her third just a week before me! She is my favorite because I can call her up or e-mail her after experiencing a weird pregnancy symptom and ask "is this normal?" Everyone needs a friend like this during pregnancy. Love you, Kate!


My bump appears bigger and I think it's because she's got a good 6" of height on me and more room to spread out that belly!

Another friend from high school is about a trimester behind me. Her baby bump may not look so impressive from this shot...


so we were sure to capture it in all it's glory with an aeriel view! I am so short that my belly tucks right underneath theirs!


Baby L. did his/her best to provide entertainment and show off it's kicking skills. My nephew was checking out his soon to be cousin here...


and my niece wanted to feel "Baby Cousin" moving too.


Love these pictures and can't wait to show Baby L. someday.

Thanks to my parents, family and friends for making it a special day for us! So many people came from afar just to celebrate baby's upcoming debut, and it meant a lot to be surrounded by our loved ones as we get ready to become parents. We love them all and know that Baby L. will too!




































A Nest for our Wee One

Now that we have about 5 weeks to go until our wee one makes his/her appearance (eek!), I figured it was time to show you what we've been busy working on around the house. A room fit for our wee one!

If you recall from this post from the house tour just after we moved in, the soon-to-be nursery was a rather blank slate. 


We had the builder paint a soft gray on the walls, but in new construction we didn't have a chance to test swatches and the color came out a bit more blue than I pictured for the nursery. I gathered up some swatches of Olympic's no-VOC paint from Lowe's and chose a different shade. J painted the room, and I put up some decals after it dried. Soon after, furniture was delivered and things started falling into place. We wanted something that was gender neutral (obviously), but still bright and happy. I tend to have more modern taste and wanted furniture that would flow with the rest of the house. I daresay that all furniture (minus the crib of course) is usable in another room later on. I am not really into the typical "theme" room, so we did just did some colorful art and some cheery accents here and there. Here is how it turned out:

The view from the doorway
A closer shot of the glider, side table, curtains and pendant lamp
Baby's crib and the brightly colored pomanders


Baby's Aunt Erin told me to take down the pink pom if a nephew arrives. haha. 

Next, a close up of the crib with Dwell crib skirt and sheet and the breathable bumpers. You can hardly see the light gray dots and squares printed on the bed skirt and sheet, but they are there. One of these days I'll upgrade to a better camera- still relying on the old point and shoot. 


My mom and dad hosted a lovely shower for us in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago (post to come on that), and in lieu of cards they asked guests to bring a book. Baby's bookcase was filled in no time with some great stories that we can't wait to share!



We had framed some baby photos of J and I for our shower so I decorated with those for now. On the left you'll see baby's own color changing iPod dock which we can't wait to use, and I LOVE the Stinkerpants Alphabet print hanging above the shelf. I couldn't get a great shot of it, but J's favorite letter is the S for "Super Seahorse" and mine is H for "High up Hippo" (a little hippo in a tree). So cute!

On the wall to the right as you walk in, we set up the dresser which we're using as a changing table too. We added the Wish Tree print (love me some Stinkerpants), and some little shelves for books and misc. decor, toys, etc. 



And last, the little art collection on the back wall of the room. I ordered two prints online, and had some fun with Microsoft Word and some free fonts for the others. 


From top to bottom and left to right:
-Little Feet, Little Hands, Little Baby (baby will know that mommy LOVES her some Dave Matthews Band soon enough!)
-You are My Sunshine
- L O V E
- Every little thing is gonna be alright (a shout out to some reggae from Jamaica where we honeymooned)
- Just some cute little birds 
- Somewhere over the rainbow/What a Wonderful World medley lyrics 

Gotta love some free art!

We had a maternity photo shoot a few weeks ago with the ever talented Genevieve Nisly who will come back to take some photos of baby after his/her arrival. We plan to add to the photo collection then and hopefully post some better pics of the nursery with baby in it!

So, what do you think? Will baby love it? Mommy and Daddy certainly do.