Almost at the end..or maybe not?

39 Weeks (12-16-11)

39 weeks was an exciting day! 

It meant, one more week until my babies due date.One more week until I finally hold this little baby that has been growing in me for the last 9 (or 10 depending how you look at it) months. One more week until my entire life will change! But, according to my doctor, Memory has no intentions of coming on her due date. She has not dropped..at all...and I am MAYBE 1 cm dilated."MAYBE". And let me tell you, that was not a fun appointment. Having a doctor, with small little fingers check to see if you are dilated.NOT FUN.Actually, it was painful. So painful in fact that I do not think I will be having anymore cervical checks at all. So, back to the waiting game. If anything, it has given me more time to get things finished around the house. I decided to "deep clean" my house this week. 

My parents will be here this week. I am so excited. My mom has never been to our new house. AND they will be here for the holidays, so I am just excited all around. New baby, parents here, holiday season..should be a good couple weeks. And, another Christmas of me not having to cook (hehe). At some point I guess I should learn...

<3

Been a minute!

OK, it has been much longer than a minute since my last post. I am now 37 weeks along! 

This was 36 weeks (I am slacking today and I haven't taken a picture..)

I had my baby shower on Nov 5th. It was amazing!!!! So many people came to support me and the baby. I seriously feel so blessed. My mom put so much time into everything. Every detail was just amazing. My mom made the theme "CandyLand"

Memory's room (Not sure if I talked about the baby's name yet, but yes, it is Memory Cherryl-Noel) Is almost done. We have been working so hard on it.

My mom made Mem's crib set. I LOVE it.

I am a HUGE lover of all things Disney! So, her set matches perfect. 

My dad has also decided to join in and is making Mem a beautiful cradle. It is the pirate ship off of Peter Pan. It looks so much different now, but they won't share it with me until they come up for the birth. My dad wants to surprise me with the finished product. The pictures don't even compare to what it looks like in person.

Well, I think that is all that has happened in the last almost two months! I'll try not to slack again..

Baby room paint.

So, Sam was finally able to start painting the nursery this last weekend. We need another gallon of the "Bicycle yellow" paint. But I REALLY like it. I am so excited to add all the colorful polka dots!

We really should have painted before we put all the furniture together...

I think this picture actually shows the color a little bit better..bright, but not too bright :)

So excited about all the colors!

Our birthing classes are finally over!

I would like to say that I am now 100% prepared to pop this little jelly bean out. That now, I completely know what to expect. In a perfect world, my water will break at home, I won't be in any pain, and it will only take me about 3 hours to have her. I will have the relaxing music of Enya playing in the background, with the scent of my lavender candle helping with my "mood".  Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect world, but I can dream! I should add, that I can have Enya and my candles if I want..Sam could even bring his PlayStation with him to the room (That won't freaking happen!)

I will say though, that the classes were worth it! We learned so much. We have more options than we were aware of. After all, my body, my baby...I should be able to decide what takes place! My hospital seems to be pretty "natural" which I am VERY happy about. I can bring my own lotions,soaps and music. I can labor in any position that feels comfortable to me and we get our own HUGE private room with GIANT windows that look out over the mountains. (I would not of had that if I had her in a military hospital) There is even a chance that Sam can help deliver our little girl. If he decides not to do that, I can help pull her out. Might sound totally gross to some people, but I am excited about it. We have our binder full of all the ideas that we want to try while in labor. I plan on having her completely non-medicated (wish me luck!) so we have a lot of options.

Tonight, our birthing class was basically our final "Goodbye" session, and the awkward "how to get your sex life back after baby" discussion with our 60 year old birthing instructor. Talk about weird......I won't go into details, but I honestly believe she may have been more educated in the "Sex toy" department than half of the 20-30 year olds in the class. We went over breastfeeding, and bottle feeding as well..and they even gave me a cute little beanie hat made by the senior citizens that volunteer to make them for the newborns. Totally cute.

We scheduled our reunion meeting for sometime in January. Everyone will have had their little ones by then, so I am very excited to see all the babies and plan some play dates.

The "baby burrito" 

I didn't take many pictures during the classes, but the one I did get was cute. Sam perfected the "swaddle" or the "Baby burrito" as he likes to call it. Actually, he probably does it better than I do. We will see how well he can achieve this once he has to do it on a screaming, crying, arms flinging around infant :) 

So, even though, I am not 100% prepared to have her and I do not know 100% percent what to expect.(No one ever does..) I am more educated and a little bit more aware of what can happen. As my friend said to me "Don't be nervous, our bodies are designed to do this" She is completely right. I recommend taking these classes to anyone who wants to be a little more educated. They are completely worth it! 

Thrift store finds.

Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I am absolutely addicted to shopping at consignment shops/thrift stores. I guess I can blame my habit on my own mother, who is also an addict. I know some people may think "Ewww used things",but I find used stuff amazing. I don't see anything wrong with giving a piece of furniture or clothing a second or even third chance at life. Yesterday, I ventured out on my own to find something "amazing". With the baby on the way, we are trying to make her room exactly the way we want it, for exactly the price we want to pay. Lucky for me, I am also a hoarder and have many things saved from my own childhood that will be perfect for her "Vintage Disney" nursery room. Bright, colorful, and fun is what we are going for.

I found this tossed in the kids toy isle 

I wasn't really sure what is was exactly. Just a small chair?  But I knew it looked old and it was cute. I thought it could be the perfect little girls corner chair. She can sit there and read her books. Or, if I want to be a mean mommy, it can be her extremely cute "Time Out" chair.For 5 bucks, I was going to get it. 

Cute, right?

Thanks to a little Google internet surfing, I learned that it is actually an old Cosco 1960's childrens booster seat! I even found someone selling theirs for 100 bucks! So, as you can imagine, I was completely stoked, that my 5 dollar find, was totally worth it. The fact that it is in perfect condition makes it even better. 

My next Amazing find

This is a child's warming plate. Complete with lid and power cord. Now, I have seen these before on my many searches on Ebay for "Vintage Disney". But, I have never seen one with the lid before or in this design. 

Pooh Bear!

I am still excited about this. I have no idea how old this is. I can't find it anywhere online. And the only thing on the back that tells me anything about it, is that it was sold by Sears. There is a similar one on Ebay, but it is missing the lid and is stained, so it really doesn't help me out at all...

My very first blog!

I am either going to be REALLY good at this, or REALLY horrible. I have yet to decide.I guess it just depends on how much time I want to put into it. I have nothing but time, at least until this little one pops out, so I should be able to keep up with it. I figured living hundreds of miles away from friends and family, that this may be the best way to keep everyone updated on everything going on in our little families life (besides Facebook). I've never done this before, so it may take me some time to figure out how to "jazz" it up a bit. Bare with me.

So, I guess I should start this by introducing "us" 

This was taken a couple days after Sam came home from his 3rd deployment to Iraq. Aug 2010.

Now, our little one has yet to show her face,I only have a huge growing belly to show for her,a couple ultrasounds, and an unfinished nursery. So until she makes her entrance we only have "fur babies". They are completely spoiled rotten. 

Meet the "Pig"

Pug by day-nasty, snoring, grunting monster at night.

My husband honestly thinks she is the best thing in the world. He would have a farm of Pugs if I let him. (I will never let him) She was given to us by another military family right before our wedding. The sounds that come out of BOTH ends are enough to make anyone question getting a Pug. But, we love her. Every nasty inch of her.

Beast (Eeyore) 

I am not too sure how to describe Beast. His name is only Beast because we couldn't think of anything to name him. He was so shy, and almost "depressed" that we just thought it would be funny to name him "Beast". It was only later we discovered that "Eeyore" would have been a much better name. We adopted him when he was only about 8 weeks old from a litter of 10. So hard to choose ONE! He is half Beagle, half Corgi. He is not proportioned right at all. Super long body, with short legs. Huge ears and a long tail. It took him a while to grow into his body. He is my little buddy though. 

Marilyn (driveway cat)

I saved Marilyn from my parents driveway. Someone dropped her off about 4 years ago. My dad hated her and my brother hated her. So mom and I continued to feed her. Once Sam and I were married, we packed her up and moved her to WA with us. She loves the dogs, and loves attention and now hates being outside. She opens cabinets, eats my plants and has gained about 15 pounds since her days in the driveway. 

Gus. Our newest addition.

We've only had our little Gus for a couple weeks. So we are still learning his personality. He reminded me of the little chubby mouse off of Cinderella, so that is how we came about his name. He bounces around the house all day, has his own toys and tries his hardest to get the other animals to play with him. He is a little cuddle bug and loves sleeping right next to us. 

So, minus unborn baby, that is our little family <3