the wee babe's room...

i now have everything put in its place in the baby's room... and last week i decided it really needed a mobile so i took the fabric that i used for the bedding and made one!  i cut out the animals from one fabric and put a little stuffing in it and hot glued it shut and put a ribbon in it and hung it from the hoop... and then from the smaller hoop i hung strings of small circles from various fabrics from the bedding... and then hung it from the ceiling.  i think it turned out way cute!

i also repainted this rocking chair i got from my mom... i have memories of her rocking me in it when i was a kid so it was fun that she let me have it... i sanded it down and painted it white and grey to match the bedding and crib.  i then found a cushion at lowe's and took the cover off and used it as a pattern for a new cushion from the fabric i had from the bedding so it would all match... it turned out way cute! 

we are also so limited on space in our house and closet space is what we have the least of so i took chris's old bookcase and took out the top shelf and put in a closet rod and turned it into a tiny closet!  i then bought these cute crates from lowe's to use as drawers on the other shelves.  i really liked them because they are sturdy... not just canvas that can collapse. they are milk crates.  my sister saved all her tiny hangers from her baby so i used those to hang all his tiny clothes... i plan to pain it as well... but not anytime soon.... eventually after he's born... maybe after we move to north carolina.  i also moved my dresser into the crib room to use the top as the diaper changer... i bought one of the contour pads and then it had a strap to screw onto the back to secure it and then i bought a cover and wa-la!  baby changer!  i also emptied out the top drawer for diaper/ other random baby supplies.  

seriously can't wait to add a baby to this room! 

the baby shower...

my awesome visiting teachers (and friends) threw me a really cute and fun baby shower!! they decided to go with a western theme... cause what's more boy than a cowboy??! here's the WAY cute invitation:

isn't that so cute?! and the decorations were so cute! they had a pie bar with lots of choices and they had a candy bar where you could fill a goody bag and a little cowboy hat for the guests to sign in on and barrels of popcorn to take home.  it was all super cute!

here's the decorations: 

i was surprised how many of my friends and family came... it was a fun group with lots of talking and laughing and whatnot! 

i spent most of my time opening presents... which was fun of course but i always want to talk to people more... 

everyone was so generous and gave me lots of really cute things!! i love baby stuff! they are so tiny and just dang cute! 

the whole night was really great and i was truly grateful to everyone that came!! 

you say its your birthday...

i had a birthday!!! i turned 28! woo hoo!! it wasn't a big deal though... we went to dinner with my mom and niece amanda to tgi fridays (i had a coupon for a free dessert) and chris got me a few little presents!  he got me the last 2 harry potter movies and both of adele's cd's and then this little lap desk thing that had a light and cup holder... its way nice to use when i'm sitting on the couch reading not to have to hold the book!  there was a man at the restaurant doing balloon animals so he made amanda a little dog and he made me a birthday cake!

it was a really nice low key day!! 

on another note... chris and i had our actual 1 year anniversary on the 22nd this month and TOTALLY FORGOT!!!! haha i hadn't felt good that morning so chris went to church alone and we went to lunch at my moms and were just hanging out and at 9pm i realized... its our anniversary! we forgot since we celebrated it back in december!! haha we then laid in bed and shared our favorite moments of the year... but i thought it was too funny we nearly let the day pass with out saying anything! haha 

38 weeks... the end is here

here we are... at the end!! i am really excited and completely ready for this little guy to be here! feb 6th they are going to take him and it cannot come soon enough.  i feel like the last 9 months have gone by fairly fast and these last 2 weeks have been torture!!! once the baby shower was over it was like... now what??!  wait wait wait.  here are somethings i'm experiencing these days:

- i no longer have heart burn because of the best pill ever invented called nexium!!! if any of my friends out there suffer... ask your doc for this pill!!! its amazing.  i haven't had any heart burn in a month.

- sleeping is becoming more sporadic. i wake up often for the bathroom and sometimes once i am awake i get a little insomnia crazed.  luckily chris is a heavy sleeper and i can turn on the to to entertain myself at 3 am.

- i am having contractions all the time.  sometimes they are more uncomfortable than others and lately they are down right painful.  i'm not in labor but they sure do hurt.

- it is also comical to watch me move around. i walk with a huge waddle... i need help getting off the couch... rolling over in bed takes an unbelievable amount of effort... and i simply put am completely constricted by this giant ball hanging off the front of me.

- this weekend i think they baby has dropped down... which has been really really painful.  i could hardly lift my leg to get in the car... haha... 

- i haven't gained any weight in the last 2 weeks... but baby bump has super grown... 

i have organized all the babies things and put them away in his room and gotten the whole room ready... big time nesting.  its been really fun.  except for the part where i broke grandpa's washing machine washing baby socks... beware... they flip up into the barrel and get sucked into the drain pump... and then it costs $$$ to fix it.  i bought a mesh laundry bag to put all tiny things in from now on... lesson learned.  

my weekly appointments go by so fast as i go in and they take my weight and blood pressure and send me home... its pretty nice.  i'm definitely ready to move onto the next phase of motherhood!! chris is also ready but nervous that i will go into labor before feb 6th... which is not a big deal... but it will not be part of the plan! the other day i was getting out of the car and stepped wrong on my foot and got shooting needle pain throughout the whole foot and i yelled out really loud and chris jumped out of the car and was like "did your water break??!" hahaha i guess i'm going to have to be more careful around him when i wince in pain.  he was getting really nervous the other night because my contractions were more painful than normal... but never consistent so i told him no biggie... even though i was secretly worried too haha.  

here is the progression of the belly growth: 

i will definitely be surprised if this boy isn't at least 8 pounds as he has been measuring... we fight over space all the time.. i lean over and he pushes me hard in the ribs and i retaliate by pushing back on him with my hand... i know... i'm fighting with my unborn baby.  oh well...  one more week!! (plus a day or two)

  

the cute potential...

i was looking at baby pics today of chris and i and decided that our baby has a pretty good chance of being dang cute... here's the proof:

33-35 weeks...

we are in the final countdown... and i am feeling more and more ready... we aren't totally prepared yet and still need a lot of things for the baby, but mentally i am ready and my body is definitely ready!!! my face for sure is ready.  i love the poofy shape it has taken on :)  my health has been good and my blood pressure had been normal my last couple appointments so thats all good news.  my doctor still doesn't think i'll male it to my due date... partially since the baby is so huge he nowhere to go anymore.  here are some other things going on...

- my hips are sore... particularly my right hip.  sometimes while sleeping it just aches.

- my rips are way sore and this is because my little buddy has nestled his bum into my ribs and he stretches and pushes into them all day long, but the time night rolls around i'm sore and ready to lay down.  

- i am having all sorts of dreams various things having to do with the baby and nursing him and taking care of him... luckily i haven't had anymore dreams about him coming out with multiple heads... that one was just freaky.

- i am sleeping a little better because i am just so tired i am not waking up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom... it is stretching to more like 3-4 hours which is a nice change.

- every couple nights i do get hit with insomnia but since chris is such a heavy sleeper i can just turn on the tv no big deal and entertain myself for a couple hours.

- i now officially weigh more than my husband. never thought the day would come but here we are... haha oh well.  he is very supportive and nice and tells me how wonderful and beautiful i am... which helps :)

i am really excited and for the most part doing really well... just a typical uncomfortable pregnant woman.  we did get some big things done... like registering for baby gifts and registering at the hospital.  we are still working on insurance for the little guy and a pediatrician but i'm not worried about either of those things.  

i also decided to cut my hair... for many reasons:  wanting a change, getting too tired to blow dry my hair, thinking it will just be easier for me to do short hair.  i loved my long hair and thought it was really pretty, but i like the sassyness of my new short hair and how easy it is to dry.  it was the longest it has ever been in my life and now its gone... so long friend :)

christmas comes but once a year...

and when it comes... we give a cheer!!! our first christmas as a married couple... even though last year we felt married... we were indeed not! for the last couple months chris and i have been saving 75 dollars every month to put towards a tv.  i have a fairly nice tv but it is big and boxy and heavy and with all the moving we are going to do the next 6 years we decided it was time to buy a flat panel tv like everyone else.  the week of christmas we headed over to sams club to buy one.  we had our budget (which had to include tax) and started looking at tvs.  we knew going in we could probably afford a 42" which is pretty huge for our little apartment so we went straight to that isle so we wouldn't even be tempted to go beyond our budget.  we sat there debating for at least an hour trying to figure out which was a better deal and what all the numbers and things meant.  the discussion included a couple of phone calls to my brother jack to is tech savy (as we are not) and finally we came to a decision... we bought a vizio 42" lcd that had apps... so it had wifi and whatnot so we could watch netflix right from our tv and pandora... etc.  we brought the box home and i told chris he couldn't open it till christmas since it was a christmas present. he didn't like that so i put a blanket over it like it was wrapped so it wouldn't stare him in the face for the next 2 days.

we also decided that since we bought a tv we shouldn't really buy anything else for each other... but in the end decided we wanted to open something christmas morning so we set the budget of 25 each to buy little stuff for each other.... man it was tough! we mostly bought silly food items and candy but chris did buy me a new daily calendar. this one has medical weirdness for each day.  i bought him a tiny pool table... that was originally 40 bucks but after being half off and having a 10 off coupon i was able to get it with in my budget!

the 2 weeks leading up to christmas were super busy!!! we had a million different parties and what not. first was the dental school christmas party where we had some pretty good food... got dressed up and talked with a couple friends from school.  the next night was the ward party where i was in charge of the music program and had to sing.  then sunday was the stake choir festival and i was asked to sing a solo piece for that as well. tuesday night was a girls night out with the dental wives in chris' class.  we all made cookies and brought a bunch to exchange and make plates to take to visiting teachies... which was nice to get that done too!  thursday i had a brunch with my visiting teachers which is really fun with bagels and other things to eat and lots of talking and hanging out.  friday was another christmas party put on by one of chris' class mates and mostly consisted of the mormon married couples... way fun night with lots of food and white elephant and other hilarious christmas games... and pregnant women.  i think 6 of us at the party were expecting. ha! the next monday was our "anniversary" and then on tuesday night was the relief society christmas party where my mom and i were in charge of the music and i brought the table decorations... way hilarious fun night! wednesday we had a dinner over at my brother sam's for my dad where we ate and opened a few presents.

thursday night was the party at my moms where we have dinner and then do a white elephant.... its always crazy!  the hotest items this year were the crap my grandpa brought from his house.  one he called a "safari kit" it had an orange and a bottle of diet coke and some other random stuff... but it included this little barrel coin bank that he has had on his dresser as long as i can remember and as kids we would always play with it.  his other present was a bag of what he called junk... he basically emptied out a drawer full of watches and what nots... but it ended up being the coolest bag of junk! it had this neat money clip that had a tiny watch on it... and it had all these neat antique watches and all sorts of stuff.  i ended up with the bag of stuff and sam got the bank.... but he really wanted the bag and i wanted the bank so we traded.

friday night we had off and needless to say i didn't want to do anything! so we just hung out at my moms... real low key.  saturday night was the christensen family christmas eve hoopla.  sam did magic tricks and we all sang along to his karoke christmas music.  my mom asked me to sing and impromptu "have yourself a merry little christmas" and then santa came and we passed out little gifts to the little kids.  it was a really fun night!

christmas morning chris jumped right out of bed and ripped the blanket off the tv.  we opened the rest of our presents and then got ready for church.  we got ready fast enough that chris opened the tv and started setting it up.  after church we had turkey lunch at my moms and then made a stop over at my grandma slades house to see my grandparents and my dad.  we then headed home and jack came over to help us set up the tv and figure some things out.

it was a really great day and a perfect first christmas as a married couple.  we are now enjoying the rest of chris's break from school buy getting a bunch of baby errands done including registering for baby gifts and registering at the hospital and a visit to the doctor... we are also working on organizing a few more things around the house and painting a rocking chair my mom gave me.  more on that once its finished!  merry christmas!!