Lethbridge Baby Shower

Just playing a bit of catch up here! Last month my sister threw me a baby shower at my Mom's house in Lethbridge. It was so much fun, and I got so many great presents for baby. People were so generous and we are so grateful for everyone's support. My parents bought us a carseat and stroller system, which we were needing and are so happy to have!
Some of my favorite gifts were the homemade ones. Of course my Grandma Porter made baby something. She made him a beautiful sweater, blanket, and the cutest little hat with bunny ears! i can't wait to put it on him! My Mom also made me a baby quilt, and my sister made a beautiful blanket for me as well. I appreciate all the gifts, but those are ones i will always treasure.

We ate delicious cake, and it was so fun to visit with everyone.

Cheryl has already had her baby boy! Jealous! Hopefully I'm up to have mine soon. Only four days until my official due date. I have the feeling I am going to be overdue, so I'm not holding my breath for him to come very soon!

My friend Ashley and some of my Mom's friend stayed later and we just chatted and I have to say it was so fun!

A big thank you to my Mom and sister and Thank you to everyone who came!

oh baby

I think a lot about what our baby will look like. I'm pretty sure he's going to inherit Caleb's blonde hair...I'm pretty sure he will be bald, (sorry baby!) I always envision him as skinny too...maybe just a mini caleb? :)

But one thing I'm hoping he'll inherit of mine is the nose I had when I was a baby, and maybe my juicy lips. Just take a look at that nose and tell me it's not adorable.

(I'm second from the left)



Whatever you look like baby you are sure to be absolutely adorable!

Scott and Stacey

It's official, my little brother is married. Scott married his sweetheart Stacey on September 2, 2011. It was a perfect day. And although everyone is so happy for him, it seems a little sad to have the baby of the family married off already. It seems like he just got home from his mission! But I know him and Stacey are going to be so happy.

The morning of their wedding was overcast and rainy, but by the time they came out of the temple the weather was perfect. The ceremony was beautiful and so special as Stacey's Grandmpa sealed them. I was pretty emotional throughout the whole thing...these pregnancy hormones didn't help! Stacey was teary through most of it, so everytime I looked at her I couldn't help but cry! it was too much for me.

It was such a special day! We are so excited to have a new member of our family. We love you both!

Stacey's dress was gorgeous! I loved it!

Much love to you both!

30 weeks

It's getting a little painful for me to post these belly pics! i made caleb take like twenty pictures of me and still didn't have one i liked...so here you go!

Things are still going well. My feet and ankles if you can tell are getting very swollen. It doesn't really hurt, but they just feel tight a lot of the time. This is one reason I'm grateful to be pregnant during the summer...flip flops and sandals! I'm not sure my feet would fit into anything else at this point.

Only a couple of months left to go and we get to meet our baby! I will be done work in about four weeks hopefully. It will be nice to have a bit of a break because I haven't been sleeping very well lately.

It has been becoming a bit more real to me. I am feeling the baby move all the time now, and sometimes I feel like I can pick out body parts. I will feel a little foot or knee pushing on me, and if we push back he will start to push against our hand. That has been so fun! It makes it seem a lot more real, there is actually a little person in there!

His room is coming along slowly but surely. Our sister in law generously gave us a change table, which we have been painting white. We actually found the crib that I was wanting to get in the states at walmart up here! It's of course $40.00 more, but still pretty reasonable. I'm excited to have everything set up and ready to go!

I think I'm getting to the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy. I am feeling new aches and pains and I'm feeling huge. But it is more than worth it!

Only a couple more months to go!

Brother's Adventure

Bear tracks.

Baby Update

This is me at 27 weeks...a 30 week picture will be coming soon!
My face is looking awfully puffy in this pic!

Yesterday morning Caleb and I went to our appointment with our midwife. We did all the usual stuff, she measured my belly and my measurement is right on. Hooray! One thing I love about my midwives is they never weigh me. :) I guess I should be happy that they aren't too concerned about my weight. Our midwife (Carol) found the baby's head and he is head down with his back against my back. I'm relieved to know he's at least head down because I can not tell at all what position he is in! I thought for the longest time that he was sideways. Turns out he must just have long arms and legs because I get kicked from all angles. She told Caleb where to put his hands to feel the head, and then she let me do it, but I was too freaked out to push too hard! I didn't want to hurt his little head...so i didn't feel too much. But Caleb said that it felt like a bubble.

I was anxiously waiting for my gestational diabetes results. I went in for the test a couple weeks ago. The drink was not as bad as everyone said it was going to be, but I did feel nauseous and so tired soon after I drank it. When the nurse was taking my blood she asked if I had low blood pressure, i said no i didn't, but that I might pass out! I am not a fan of having my blood taken as I get pretty queasy, but this is the closest I have ever been to passing out during it. I was able to go home and get in a really quick nap before I went back to work which helped a bit. I got the results yesterday and I passed! I was so nervous about it, because I didn't know if I could handle a second test, and have to fast for it. So that was a big relief. I also still don't have syphilis! ha! They are making everyone retest for it....not sure why. Pretty sure if I had syphilis I would know...and I would have to do some explaining to Caleb. :)

We listened to baby's heartbeat and everything sounded great. She asked about us taking prenatal classes and we told her that we had been doing hypnobirthing. Carol said that is perfect as a prenatal class and she has had clients in the past use it and do very well in their labour. She said that our mind and thoughts have a lot to do with how labour goes and progresses, everything else is pretty much out of our control. So if we can control our minds, it sometimes helps things go a lot more smoothly. Here's hoping it will work for me! I feel i need a lot more practice with it.

Apparently I have "white coat syndrome". Carol said when I'm there my blood pressure goes up a bit. Hopefully I can get over that for the birth!

All in all things are going great. I can't believe I only have 10 weeks left! The time is flying by!! We still have some work to do on the nursery...we still need a crib! Any Moms have recommendations for things that we will need? I know baby's don't need much, but I'm lost as to what I should be getting ready ahead of time. I'm hoping to end work at the end of September to have some time to get the house ready, make freezer meals, and get some sleep in before it's too late!

We can't wait to meet you baby!

Wicked

Quite a few months ago Caleb and I bought tickets to go see the broadway show Wicked. A friend of mine got a giant group of people together to buy tickets so we could get the group rate. I had to get in on it. I haven't read the book...i really wanted to before we went! But Caleb has, and i had heard such great things about the show.

Beforehand we went for dinner at a french restaraunt called Saint Germain. I had a groupon for it, so it was a great chance to use it up. Caleb had duck, i had a steak...i admit i was bad and had it pretty rare, but it was so delicious i couldn't send it back...i just kept eating. We also had fries and mayo to share. It was a fantastic and delicious dinner.

The show was amazing! We had great seats, and the show went by so quickly, it was over before i knew it. The woman that played Glinda was hilarious! We were laughing throughout the whole show. Only complaint is that the theatre was super hot for some reason! Which was not fun for this pregnant lady.

Although it's difficult for me to post the following pictures, i'm going to swallow my pride and do it. I am looking just a tiny bit more chubby than ususal. :)

It was a fantastic date night!

27 weeks!

I am 27 weeks pregnant today. 7 months, and only three left to go! I would take a belly picture, but Caleb is away in vernon still...maybe tomorrow? I realized I haven't documented too much about my pregnancy, and thought that i should in case some day I want to look back and remember all this!

I can't believe how fast the time has flown. It is hard to imagine that in three months we will have a little baby...really how do you wrap your head around that? I am feeling this little guy move so much lately. From the first time I felt him move it has always been very strong kicks, he's got some muscles! His movements have been so strong that sometimes they startle me and make me jump! I love laying in bed with caleb with his hand on my belly and having him feel the baby move...not much is better than that. He is much more active when i want to sleep! But I hear that's pretty normal.

A few weeks ago I have started to get some pain in my upper ribs. I am convinced it's not him kicking me because the pain is up so high, I think it must be things in my body shifting around. the pain is worse if i'm sitting down for long periods of time, which has made work a bit difficult. My feet and ankles have also started swelling! they look awful!! Hopefully it's not permanent!

Probably the craziest thing has been seeing my belly button change. I have always had a very deep innie, and to actually be able to see the bottom of my belly button has been so strange! I seriously comment on it all the time and I think Caleb must think I'm crazy.

I have gained quite a bit of weight...i've stopped weighing myself because I don't think I need the unecessary psychological damage of seeing the number on the scale. I have to admit i probably have been eating a lot more than I need to. Gaining the weight has probably been one of the most difficult parts for me, but definitely is worth it, and I have to keep telling myself that I can loose the weight after...so i need to stop worrying about it! Right?

Caleb has been amazing. So supportive and helpful. Always picking things up off the floor for me, :) getting me glasses of water, and taking over a lot of the housework. I appreciate his help so much. He never complains about it either. He is always talking to the baby and rubbing my belly. When he goes away he says that he will miss me, but he'll also miss the baby. I love that he's already so involved.

Caleb and I also decided to take hypnobirthing courses. I have wanting been researching the positives to a natural childbirth long before I was pregnant, and it's something I feel will be best for me. These courses have helped me to feel more confident in my ability to do so. For more info check out this link.
Caleb says it has been really helpful for him in feeling less fearful about the experience of birth, and it has been great for me as well. It's refreshing to be able to talk about childbirth, and take out the idea of fear, and not having to hear all the horror stories that people love to share. I still have a lot of practice to do with my relaxation techniques, but i'm hoping the course will help me through the birthing process.

Overall, this has been such an amazing experience. I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that there is actually a little baby in my stomach! I already love him so much, and am getting so excited to meet him!
We love you baby!

Babymoon

Caleb and I both love to travel.
His job has given us many amazing opportunities to do so. With me being pregnant and all, we will probably have less chances to get away as just the two of us in the near future. While I was still at work part-time, it worked us for us to do a last minute get away. We went to a resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I went to the MTC there, but had never gotten to experience the beaches! It was our first time doing all inclusive, and it was well worth it! It was such a relaxing trip, not having to worry about anything. The weather was hot and perfect, and it was so nice to get away and relax. Babymoon success!

Windsurfing was actually one of the free activities at the resort. I didn't go obviously, but Caleb got a lesson and although he said it was really difficult I thought he did pretty well!

Most of our time was spent between the pool and the beach. We had to wake up early to get spots by the pool in the shade, but it was well worth it as we would have burnt to a crisp without them! Our main activities were reading, swimming, and going to the grill by the buffet for delicious chicken!

We usually went to this bar while waiting to get into whichever restaurant we had chosen that night. They had a buffet and four different restaurants, french, asian, american steakhouse, and italian, and they didn't do reservations for them so we usually we waiting for a bit if we didn't get there early. We had the same server who would make us these delcious non-alcoholic drinks because I told her I was pregnant. Yum!!

Us at the asian restaurant.

We also spent a lot of time eating Mangoes! We had to get them early, because later in the day they would all be gone. Soooooooo delicious!

Taking out the catamarans was also free. I was a little freaked out to take it out, but felt reassured when we went out and the water stayed very shallow. It was so fun! I guess we only had half an hour, which they failed to tell us, so we brought it back late. Oops!!

We had an amazing time! Only complaint is that I wish it was longer! Thanks baby for giving us a reason to go on vacation!