stl baby shower

Posted on 4.22.2013 by sarah

This past weekend was spent with extended family in St. Louis. My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law put on a wonderful baby shower for me and our baby boy!

They had everything displayed so nicely, but silly me only got a few pictures of the party. I was obsessed with this tablescape of a big “B” (for baby or boy) and the rhino my sister-in-law found at Target!

They served a delicious meal of chicken sandwich, pasta, and salad with gender specific cupcakes and cake balls for dessert! Aren’t they cute?!

It was an intimate event with lots of laughs and conversation. I was lucky enough to catch up with family and old friends during my visit! It made me miss my time in St. Louis with them, and as always, wish for more time to visit!

I was overjoyed with all the wonderful items baby boy got during the process! He is so blessed and loved already! I just hope everyone there truly knew just how happy and amazed I was at all the thoughtful people in the room. I seriously almost teared up a couple times just thinking about the generosity of these ladies’ time and effort. It was so much fun to have everyone involved. Even my sweet nieces helped out by passing out the gifts. They were such great helpers.

There were a couple gifts that were already trying to influence our baby boy’s future sports teams! I love them! I can’t wait to take them to Lambeau Field and Busch Stadium someday!

We also played a couple games; it couldn’t be called a shower without it! My friend Sarah is also pregnant and she’s waiting to find out the gender at birth! We were trying to figure it out earlier than that with a string test! The pencil will circle for girls and maneuver in a straight line for a boy. I was convinced it was a boy, but after seeing the test… I can’t be quite sure! Ha ha!

All-in-all it was a pleasant trip to St. Louis. The only trouble was finding enough room in our vehicle for all the baby boy’s new stuff! We had to leave the radio flyer in the grandparents’ garage but will pick it up on our next trip up! Thank you to all near and far that participated in this special day!

**A special thanks to my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law for such a special event! I know they worked hard to make it perfect and it was!

gender specific

Posted on 4.03.2013 by sarah

This post is a little later than the actual news because we’ve been parading the news to family and friends! But ladies and gentlemen the wait is over. We have a verdict!

Above is my histotech’s comments after our whole staff ran into the break room to find out what color my cupcakes were for the office! They were blue and green… I bought yellow and white cake mix and mixed in blue food coloring. I figured green was still on the boyish-side but apparently alien or smurf is all anyone could think about! I heart my coworkers!

Unfortunately, with a few tears on my part, we just FaceTimed our families instead of sending them a gender specific cake or cupcakes. Yes, tears. I really wanted to do something more special but understand everyones desire to know *now*. Plus, the proximity of sending something would have taken days and by then one or more of my family members (not saying which ones) would have had a stroke or heart attack. I didn’t want that on my shoulders. Maybe for baby #2.

Our sonogram was pretty awesome and I wanted you all to share in the little bean’s movements … they gave us a CD of the whole thing; below is a tidbit of the video and around 1:29, you can see the technician pointing at an extra appendage on our now known little man. Warning: the kid’s skin at this age is translucent so he can look kinda creepy when he’s looking straight up at us… Then again, I think 3D ultrasounds are creepy, too. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The husband and I had a little insight that our bean was a boy. On our 12 week ultrasound the doctor gave us a 95% odds I was carrying a boy, and after the little guy flipped again he said nope, now 98% odds. But it was so much fun seeing him kick and swim around again. We needed this confirmation that our baby was a boy!

I first thought finding out early was kind of selling out or opening our Christmas present early, but I have no regrets. The memory of finding out that day will stick with me forever. The image (half scared/half joy and excitement) when I look over to my husband, as the technician said “it’s a boy!,” was pretty priceless. Plus, a new bond has started with a little boy growing in my belly, and it’s so fun to think of him as a little boy not a just a baby. Even this morning as Otis (our pug) raced off the bed barking, the little man in my stomach started to kick frantically. I laughed at the joys this little guy will have with our dogs and what fun times there are ahead for us all.

belly project

Posted on 3.25.2013 by sarah

Hi Friends! I’m back from my own spring break week of R&R goodness but don’t think I haven’t been thinking about my blog! I’m excited to share with you all the projects I’ve been working on around the house and share my newest milestone of making it to Week 21 in my pregnancy! That’s more than half way! Yay!

When people ask how I’m doing or how my day was, I always respond… Well, besides growing a baby (or making life), I…. It’s fun, makes people laugh, and it’s pretty dang cool to be a woman! Here’s the first half of my belly photos. I’m loving this process. Yes, at times I asked myself is this “baby” growth or my new found love of ice cream and jelly beans; either way I don’t care. All I want is a healthy baby, and I can take care of the details after the birth!

I found it kind of tedious to put on this shirt (which doesn’t do my bump justice), and make the hubs take pictures, so I started snapping pictures in my own gear with or without the hubs! In the picture below, he offered but I said I got it! He he.

15 weeks

17 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

So, there you have it! My first 21 weeks have been a breeze. A big Thank You to the women in my family before me for the good pregnancy genetics. Here’s to 19 or 20 more weeks! I already have my prediction on the due date! Ha ha.

crib

Posted on 3.06.2013 by sarah

The hubs and I have done many projects around our house to help improve the aesthetics and versatility of the spaces we cohabit. Never before has a project been more momentous than this one. Well, maybe our windows (pictures coming soon) or the visions I have of a new kitchen but… this one is up there. Making space for our kid! What?

This weekend, an important piece of furniture was assembled in our guest room, now called the nursery. My dad was generous enough to spoil us (and his future grandson or granddaughter) with buying the crib and mattress for our little bean. I wanted a modern looking crib with clean lines and storage for blankets and crib sheets. I also wanted it to be semi-affordable as I know the mattress and other kid stuff can get pretty pricey. We decided on the Parklane 3-in-1 crib for $300.00. Holla!

Our second choice was the Oeuf crib, which also had the wood/white modern look we were wanting but with no storage and a hefty price tag of $1000.00, I was much happier with our choice. We then plan to purchase the pebble pure mattress which boasts a price tag even higher than the crib! I told my dad I would pay for half of the mattress. The pebble top is also the mattress pad which can be taken off and washed, too.

The assembly of the crib was a smooth one. Boston (and Otis, not pictured) were happy participants in the process. They might have thought we were assembling their new crate. Ha. We only made two minor mistakes while assembling!

We are really pleased with our selection, and it makes it that much more real when you have a crib set up right across the hall from you! I peek in on it daily. I know this momentous occasion feels small in it’s time, but I’m sure I’ll be reading this exact post when he or she is moving out of our home into his/her college dorm or first apartment. I’ll probably be balling, too!

Oh, and don’t worry the dog crate and other things will be out of the room before the baby gets here.

baby announcement

Posted on 2.27.2013 by sarah

Many people lately have been asking how we told our parents we were expecting. So, I figured I would fill you in on what we did to announce our pregnancy. Way back in October, we decided to have our regular session of professional photos taken for the holiday session. This time we chose Vintage Bloom Photography; she was a sweet photographer who recently moved from Colorado to Texas. We were considering starting “trying” that month, so we decided as part of the photography session (for a couple photos) we would be including baby footwear.
The photographer was all for it and very excited for both of us! She even mentioned being more than happy to do my pregnancy photography. Though, I was kind of nervous we were jinxing ourselves on the whole baby thing, we went ahead with the photos and the husband reassured me that such jinxing was improbable.

When the time came and we found out we were actually expecting, we decided to blow up that same picture and photoshop a little note that read: baby snitker august 2013. We put them in nice 8×10 frames for both our parents and had them open it as their very last gift during our Christmas festivities.
Needless to say everyone was overjoyed with our news; there were some tears of joy, and everyone was very excited to have another little bean added to our extended family.

With the frame, we figured we could always send more pictures to be switched out of the little guy or gal during each stage of development.

source

Another exciting announcement comes when we find out the gender of our bean at 20 weeks. We are very much considering finding out (okay, I think its a done deal), and I think a fun way to have people find out would be shipping our families little cupcakes from a local bakery either with the gender written on them or pink or blue cakes! Then, have them all open them via FaceTime or Skype! Kinda fun when we don’t all live in the same town!

These are just two ways we celebrated/plan to celebrate the amazing process of expecting and gender announcements. The bambino will make his or her own announcement on their own time in August. I can’t wait to see what date he or she picks! I hope nothing goes wrong that we need to be induced or have a cesarian section. I just want the little dude or dudette to come as it pleases! I’m sure mothers are laughing at me because I know around 36-40 weeks, every mother wants that baby out as soon as possible. I’ve seen it.

ultrasounds

Posted on 2.18.2013 by sarah

This is one area of my life when my anxiety has actually paid off… I got handheld reassurance that yes, in fact there is a baby in there. Three different times! Though my OB thinks I’m crazy… Actually she just commented that I know way too much about this process because of my education; I feel like I’ve learned more about myself and my amazing body than I’d even thought possible. To share my body with another human for a little over 9 months is a pretty amazing gift I’ve been given. Here’s the little bambino growing up so fast! :)

6 week 2 days

10 weeks 2 days

12 weeks 5 days

Our last ultrasound before we actually get to meet the bambino is at 20w/4d and I’m oh so excited to see what he/she is doing during that visit! If we elect, we can find out the gender at that visit. I think the husband and I have a pretty good idea from the 12w/5d visit, but we’ll see if we’re right!

happily amazed

Posted on 2.04.2013 by sarah

A few weeks ago the hubs and I got some semi-unexpected news:

There’s about ten more of these, but I figured you’d get the idea. I say semi-expected because we started semi-trying the same month we got pregnant.

I’ve had extreme mixed emotions since the day I found out we were pregnant. From what have I done? To holy cow it worked? To am I really pregnant? (hence the multiple tests). With all these mixed emotions, I still feel truly blessed. Blessed that I didn’t make the plans, (okay, thats kinda a lie. I love organization and control.) Blessed with our families’ reactions. Blessed and extremely lucky to not have to go through the heartache and trouble of infertility. Blessed that I have multiple friends and family to turn to for questions and answers about pregnancy and raising children. Plus, I get to decorate a nursery! I’m really excited for that too, obviously!

Guessing what’s on my reading list these days?

*Thanks to my sister-in-law, I have lots to read!

Overall, we’re just happy to welcome our new addition coming early August and start our family of three… Technically family of five, with the boys too, of course!

spaghetti on bath night

Category Archives: Pregnancy