pregnancy updates & belly pictures

1st of all, happy first day of October! :)

October is a special month for our family, because of all the birthday celebrations and is about to be even more special with our new bundle of joy joining us this month!

Here is my 37 & 38 week belly shots! I can't believe how huge I look! At my 38 week appointment my total weight gain is 35 pounds! That is so crazy to me! The best thing is that hopefully after a few months of having the baby girl, I will lose it all! :) lol. I am going to breastfeed, which also helps with getting rid of all that baby weight too!

I can't really complain overall about my pregnancy, but once I hit week 36, it really has been miserable being pregnant! It is hard to sleep, hard to get up out of bed, hard to move, hard to bend over... etc. The worst things that have happened to me during pregnancy is getting carpal tunnel in my hands, and swelling in my feet. I've heard that once the baby comes out, both of those things almost go away immediately, so I am looking forward to seeing my skinny feet again, and my fingers not being numb all day! I can finally finish writing all of my thank you notes! :)

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will be 39 weeks! I will of course take another picture, and a bittersweet moment is that my 39 week picture will be my last picture! :)

hip hip horray!!!

At my doctor appointment today, my doctor informed me that I was ready to go into labor at anytime! My cervix is ready to go, and has progressed! He also told me that he was willing to induce me into labor next week if Maggie Claire hasn't come on her own before then! That means in a few days, I will be holding my sweet baby girl! My blood pressure was up a little bit, and my doctor said that it was most likely from being on my feet so much, and he wasn't too worried, but since today was my last day of work, it should help some if I take it easy! :)

I'm just super excited about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! She is finally going to arrive! I got really nervous today for the first time about having Maggie Claire, but of course, I just want everything to be perfect, and for Maggie Claire to be healthy when she arrives!

I'll keep you all updated and please keep me in your prayers!!!

maggie claire's {almost} finished nursery

I'm 38 weeks today and I am officially {almost} done with maggie's nursery! It has been pretty much done for about 3 or 4 weeks now, but today I finished hanging everything on the walls. The only thing that is not complete is 2 paintings that are going in her room. I'm starting those this weekend, and they should be finished by the end of the week! I'm super excited about her name canvas going over her crib, let's just say there is going to be pink & white zebra involved! :)

Here is a tour of her room in pictures:

The other painting I'm working on is going to go above the shelf with the black picture frame on it. It's probably going to be a Bible verse or a cute saying... I haven't decided yet.

When I'm in her room, I always get so hot because there is no ceiling fan, and the window in her room is huge! Well, this week I bought a little oscillating fan that is on the bookshelf, and black out curtains that keep the heat out! Those two things have done wonders in the room! :)

This is her closet & hairbow holder, I know, she has way too many hairbows already! hehe :) I can't help myself but keep making hairbows for all of her adorable outfits!

The fuchsia bins are great for storage, and my mom got me some cute flowers to put on them!

Her carseat, bobby pillow and diaper bag all packed by the door ready to go to the hospital!

I am just in love with this carseat, and of course I had to get a pink headrest to go in it for her! Don't you just love the hounds tooth?!?!

I put these little wall decal polka dots above her changing table along with the famous ribbon chandelier that I've been working on! I love how the ribbon chandelier turned out!

Here is an upclose of the chandelier!

Here is a better picture of her hairbow holder and crib. That is the lovely canvas that I haven't painted yet! :)

This little cubby shelf is awesome! My mom got it for me at the consignment sale that we went to last week! It was still in the box and hadn't even been put together! I put her little tutu and ballerina outfit hanging for display! The blocks have her name in them, and that pinkalicious book is just awesome! :)

Oh, and don't worry this girl already has a crazy shoe collection! This isn't even all of them!

Also, she has an outfit for every day of her life for the 1st 2 years it seems like! These are all clothes newborn through 2t. :) I am using the liberty of london bins from target for diaper/clothes/toy storage.

Her changing table all filled up and ready to go!

photos & a beachball :)

At 35 weeks, I got some maternity pictures done by the same girl who did my bridal portraits! She showed me about 11 photos from that day and I just can't wait to see the rest! Here are a few to show you!!!

This week, I was 36 weeks, and on my weekly emails that I get from parents.com said that the baby is the size of a beachball! That is so crazy to me!

Week 36

Baby's Length: 20.25-20.75 in.

Baby's Weight: 6 lbs.

Baby's Size: Beach ball

Pregnancy Tracker: Week 36

My Growing Belly: Month 9

Fetal Development: Month 9

Today(friday) I had my 37 week appointment, still just dilated 1 cm but my effacement moved up to 60%! Tomorrow I'll take my weekly belly shot, because I'm technically not 37 weeks until tomorrow, but my belly was measuring 37 1/2 weeks today! Her heart rate was right at 140 beats per minute, I just love hearing her heartbeat, it's one of my favorite things about my weekly doctor visits! I also got to see a glimpse of Maggie Claire on the ultrasound today, my doc wanted to make sure that MC was head down, and

she is! yay!

So excited to be meeting my baby girl in just a couple of weeks! I only have 22 days to go until my due date, but maybe she'll make her grand entrance before then! My doctor said anytime now she could come! I better get to packing my hospital bag!

loving every minute of becoming a mom

It's Baby Shower time to celebrate Maggie Claire!

This shower was actually 2 weeks ago, but I've just been a little too exhausted to post pictures and updates!

This was mainly my small group friends, student ministry volunteers, & some girls from the church. We had such a great time, I don't think I have laughed that hard in a very long time!

This is me holding up Maggie's first monogrammed gift! I loved it, and ever since then, I have been getting so many things with her name and initials monogrammed and I love all of it! :)

These are the wonderful ladies who threw the shower for me!

Sara, me, April, & Lauren- Thank you so much girls!!!

Such lovely sweet treats, the cupcakes are from "the cupcake store" where my friend Sarah works, but she couldn't come, so she dropped off some adorable cupcakes!!!! I wanted to taste the green one with pink icing. It was watermelon flavored!!! So good! This is actually the first cupcake from their that I actually like!!

{In case you were wondering, there was no way I ate that whole cupcake, I think all the sugar from the icing would have put me in a sugar coma!!!}

The food table: notice the ragged fabric/ribbon decoration hanging on the front of the table,April made it and I'm going to use it to hang in Maggie's room! It's so cute! I'll have to take a picture of it when it's hung so you can see it!

This party was so fun, and I loved how they served a meal instead of a bunch of finger foods! We had lasagna, salad, and bread!

Me and Bethany, we both had "embellished necklines" on our dresses! We were definitely rockin it! hehe.

These are just a few of my crazy friends, Kelly & Brittany(Sparkle). They are too funny!

me & my pretty momma, I just love her, and all she is doing for me during this pregnancy! I think even if I didn't have any showers, we would still be set on everything she has given to us! I love her!!! {oh yes, and she let me wear her cute jack roger sandals} She is so funny too, she told me the other night that it looks like babies-r-us threw up in my house! Well, that's what happens when I don't have any time to organize all the baby stuff and put it away! hehe. But thanks to her, she is helping me put everything away!

Diaper Bag! If you remember back to this post, I was super excited about the petunia pickle bottom line diaper bag at target! Well, two of my fashionable friends{they have great style and the cutest clothes} gave me the diaper bag! I am in love with it and already have a few things packed in it for the hospital! :)
We played a game where everyone was asked to bring a baby picture of themself and everyone at the shower had to guess who was who as a baby! It was so fun! {Mine is the second one down on the right}
I cannot be more grateful for all my family and friends who have been throwing me showers!!! I have actually already had 3 showers and I still have one more that some of my besties are thowing me on Sept. 11th!!!! I just can't wait, the invites went out this week, and when I saw them I just fell in love! I'll have to post the invites afterwards when I have pictures from the event! I just can't wait!!! :)

Mike and I are getting so excited about becoming parents, we have been going to doctors appointments & getting all of the things we are going to need for her, and everything seems to be falling into place! It is still so crazy to me that she will be here in less than 6 weeks!!!! I already love her so much! :)

work baby shower! :)

My awesome, fun, amazing friends {Lauren & Brittany} at work decided to throw me a baby shower for miss maggie claire on the way!!! I was just too excited when they told me, and have been looking forward to it!

This was the cake... {I managed not to get a picture of the food table}

These were the wonderful gifts...

{I am so blessed}

I did a lot of holding up things to show everybody...

Me & my crazy friend Lauren with a balloon under her shirt...

And these were the girls who helped with it all!

Lauren, me, Alex, Carly, & Brittany

{Carly & Brittany are both getting married within the next 3 months... I am too excited for them!}

I cannot thank yall enough!!! I had so much fun & everything was wonderful!! There were other coworkers who helped with it all: Laura, Dee, Pam, Beth, and Wendy!! {sorry if I forgot anyone else who helped with the food}

thank you thank you thank you!

ps- I have decided that my face has started the "pregnant chubby face" look! My friend had my camera at the shower to take pictures of everything for me, and in just about all of the pictures, I feel like I look huge! These were the only ones I felt like were worth showing!!! I was hoping that I didn't start the "feeling huge" part until the last 5 weeks of my pregnancy, but hello everyone, I feel huge and I'm 30 weeks pregnant!

On another note, I am so excited that it's the weekend! I'm definitely not crazy enough to go out shopping this weekend because of it being tax free weekend, but I'm thinking about going to another consignment sale in the morning! We'll see if I actually get up for it! :)

orange sherbet for baby girl

Here it is!

I decided to go with a light orange for Maggie Claire's room! I absolutely love it! Here are some pictures of the room so far, I have a lot more things planned for the room, so this is just the beginning! {the paint in the pictures does look darker than in real life.}

I love the crib on this wall, but not sure where I'll put the mirrors and other furniture.

The changing table! My mom ordered the baskets for it, and they were too big by less than 1cm. My mom also got the changing pad off my registry and picked up this cover because it was on clearance. I registered for a few more colors too! My stepdad is going to adjust the shelves so the bins will fit.

When my mom came to paint the room, she brought this lampshade off of my registry along with the bins and changing pad. My mom really is the greatest, did I mention she pretty much painted the entire room by herself?!?! Thanks for helping your preggo daughter out! :)

The most difficult decision I'm having about the rest of her room is what kind of chair to get. All of these gliders and ottomans available is A LOT to choose from, and I'm kind of stuck... I need some suggestions!!!

Her closet is so exciting to me, probably because it's a little project that I can't wait to get finished! I just need some more bins to finishing fill up the shelves to organize her clothes/belongings. I think I might get some solid color ones to go with the floral prints, what do you think??? Maybe a dark fuchsia??

I'm also glad that I'm able to keep a lot of my bow making/craft supplies in the bottom of her closet, along with our printer ready to go and all of our office supplies! Maggie's closet is multi-functional! :)

I still want to make a ribbon chandelier as a mobile for MC, I think it will be a cute added touch to the room, and many more artsy projects I have that I'll be sure to let you know all about! {I still am drooling over the PB pink zebra rug too!}

that's all for now... Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend!

4 weeks of updated belly pics

19 weeks 3 days

belly growth the last three weeks! I feel like I actually look like I'm pregnant!

Today we went for our big "20 week" ultrasound at our doctor. I'm actually 19 weeks and 3 days, but little miss maggie claire was measuring 20 weeks! Go girl! We didn't tell them ahead of time that we already knew it was a girl, because I wanted them to tell us, and make sure we were right! She asked us what we thought it was going to be, and I said a girl, and then after she told us that it is a girl, She asked if we already took a peak at her. hehe. I told her yes, but we just wanted to confirm it! I can't believe that I'm having a sweet baby girl! Her heartrate was 136 bpm. It keeps going down, but the ultrasound lady said that is a good heartbeart, so I'm not worried. Maggie's heart, spine, and head looked great! I have a little healthy girl, and I am so proud. The Lord really is blessing us during this pregnancy... I give Him all the glory!

Here are some ultrasound pictures from today!

This is the "girl parts" shot. She wrote maggie on the screen pointing to where her girl parts are... lol. Poor girl, we just keep showing off her privates! This will be the last shot, I promise!

This is my absolute favorite picture! It is a sweet picture of her little foot! I just can't wait to kiss those sweet little toes!!!! :)

She wanted us to take a picture of her sweet face. I think she is going to have chubby cheeks!

I can't wait to see what she looks like, if she favors her mommy or daddy. I'm pretty sure she will have blonde hair, because Mike and I both had really light blonde hair when we were babies! {well, the lack of hair for me, I didn't really grow any hair until I was over a year or two old!} You would never think that about Mike, but his hair was so blonde when he was little!

I can't wait to kiss that little girl all over! She is already loved by many, and spoiled rotten. I have a pile of things in the living room that I have bought, or others have bought for her. Yes, she is spoiled. :)