Tuesday, May 31, 2011

27 Weeks

I am now officially in the third trimester! Today was my 27 week mark, and even though I look about the same as last week, the heartburn and pillows needed to sleep comfortably in the night have both increased exponentially. Fortunately I have the best of husbands who is always willing to give me a wonderful backrub to make me feel better! :) Tonight when Austin got home from work, after going swimming for a wonderful evening cool down, Austin took this picture to mark my "belly bump progress."

Feeling pretty pregnant! :) Our little girl moves all the time, but most especially at night and for a few hours after I'm awake in the morning. She was having a ball tonight when Austin and I went swimming though! It felt like she decided to do the Butterfly stroke in my tummy--that was the most forceful I have ever felt her move all at once! She must be a water baby...just like her parents. :)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

26 Weeks and Counting....


Only 14 weeks left until my due date! Our little girl is kicking away in there, and has especially been a busy little mover today. Not long now!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Hamster Race Track



Our little hamster girls are very happy with their new present from Grandma and Grandpa! :) They love their race track, just look at them go!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

25 Weeks!

Yesterday I had my checkup at the doctor's, and everything is going great! I have gained 16.5 pounds total, and feeling our little girl moving around and kicking in there all the time! :) Yesterday morning her little feet were up by my ribs on my left side, and her head was down on my right side. It is so wonderful to get to feel her moving, even when it wakes me up at night (because at this point I can go right back to sleep). :) Here is a picture from last night that Austin took so you can see my baby bump. And today I finished submitting all my pre-registration forms to the hospital for when our baby is born! It seems more and more real every day, and I can't wait to meet our little "Duckie", as Momma calls her! :)

This picture I wanted to post for Amanda...when I had taken the pictures of the crib all set up in my last post, I still wasn't truly finished setting everything up yet. Here are the bumper pads in place with the bedding and ready to go! :) Every morning when I wake up I look over at the crib and think, "in just a few months, we are having a baby!" and I'm sure I get a silly little grin on my face because I'm just too excited! Happy summer days are going strong here at our little home! :) I hope everyone else is enjoying their (almost) summer days as well! :)

Friday, May 13, 2011

♥ Home Is Where the Heart Is ♥

Lately Austin and I have taken to rearranging our apartment in the interest of making room for our new little addition to the family! :) I decided to post some pictures now that I'm on a break until the baby comes. :) Also, if you notice, we got curtains!!! I was so excited to get them--and I put them up, too! On Wednesday this week, I installed the curtain rod, the curtain holdbacks, and put the curtains up all on my own! I was pretty impressed with myself, needless to say. And I'm loving the look that the curtains give...it just looks so much more homey here at our apartment now!

I figured I would just do some "panoramic" shots piece by piece of our "new" apartment, so you can get an idea of how our setup is now that we've moved everything around. I'm standing by the piano that has stayed, despite all the shifting around of furniture, with the bookcase and kitchen on my right in this photo.

Sorry this picture is kind of blurry, but on the left you can see the couch and the rocking chair, and then the bookcase with my dolls in its usual spot. Then, you will notice my white organizers that we moved from the bedroom out into the living room to make room for the baby, as well as my dressing table which is now a part of the living room as well! :)

These are the curtains I originally bought for the living room window. On the package the curtain length and width were labelled, but I mistakenly assumed they were giving the length and width of each panel. Apparently not, but Austin had the wonderful idea of putting my pretty curtains on our window in our bedroom, and they just look gorgeous! I love the way that they complete the room, and give it an elegant feel. :)

For Mother's Day, Austin got me many sweet presents, but one of my very favorite presents was this BEAUTIFUL bouquet of white roses!!! Every day they have opened up more and more, and are just looking so amazing, I had to document their beauty for everyone to see. :)

Last night Austin was such a wonderful husband and put up the baby crib! I am so lucky to have such amazing sisters-in-law and sister who have so lovingly given to me so many pregnancy and baby things. Everything I will practically ever need I have received from Amanda, Kristie, and Heather, and I am so blessed! This crib was originally Amanda's, and I just love having it up! :) I know it is still a few months until the baby is born, but I am just too excited to wait. :) Hence all the rearranging of furniture so that baby things can start appearing here and there.... :)

This picture isn't the best one of me, but I'm getting bigger every day! I now have gained 12 pounds since I first became pregnant, and 9 of those pounds have been in the last month! I can feel my little girl kicking every day now without fail, and moving around like I'm a little mini-jungle gym. It is so amazing to think of how big she is getting, and how in just in a few months, a new life can have formed so far! I am more excited than ever to meet my new little one and hold her in my arms for the first time.


I LOVE this red and white bedding that Amanda gave me, and I think it is so cute! I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for so many wonderful baby things. :) After the crib was made up, dust ruffle and all, Austin and I put in some of the baby things we have for our little girl so far. The pink onesie I got for Austin says "I love my daddy." I keep telling my tummy, "You are a lucky girl, you sure have a great daddy!" Austin is always so sweet to give me backrubs when my back is hurting, and I can't wait to see how wonderful he will be as a daddy. :)

The white onesie I made to match some white "Palmer" shirts I made for Austin and I for his birthday, but I added the "baby" to the Palmer to make it look cuter. :) On the back I also ironed on a pink and white cupcake since on the back of our shirts each has our names on them. We'll be the matching family now! :)

I also painted these letters for Austin's birthday last month, and just finished hanging them this week. We decided to hang the "Love You" message over our new little girl's crib, because not only do Austin and I love each other, we love our precious little girl! :)

We are just so excited to have so many changes going on in our life right now. Austin just got a promotion at work, and we are very excited about that--he has been working extra hard these past couple of weeks, putting in 12 hour workdays almost every day! We feel so blessed to be a part of a wonderful family, and to be starting a new little family of our own! Only three more months now, and our lives will change forever...and we couldn't be happier. :)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Beautiful Flowers

A few weeks ago Austin and I got some flower planters for our porch balcony, and some pretty flowers to plant in them. However, our railing was too thin for the planter box clamps, so Austin did some fancy rigging with a couple of wood pieces to make them stay last weekend. Then, we planted our beautiful flowers! I just love the view from our back door now, don't you? :)

We planted some Impatiens...these are the purple variety in one planter box...

And here is the pink and white variety in our other planter box! :) I just love pretty flowers. It reminds me of the Primary song, "In my pretty garden the flowers are nodding. 'How do you do' they say, 'How do you do today?' In my pretty garden the flowers are nodding..." Heavenly Father has created some beautiful scenery for us to enjoy while we're here on Earth! :) And today, I'm especially grateful for the beautiful flowers He created.

Hamster Mansion!

Several weeks ago Austin and I connected our two hamster cages we have so that our little hamster girls could enjoy a new palace! :) They seem to really enjoy all the ins and outs, and especially all the wheels. The cage on the right used to be Little Bear's, but we figured he wouldn't mind if we shared it with his sisters. :) They are such spoiled little girls! :)