i heart my baby boy! :)

31 weeks seems SOOOO close to 40, but yet so far away! I've been dreaming about holding, snuggling, and loving on my baby boy since the day we found out we were preggers. And now I feel like I'm about to burst if I don't get to hold him soon. But for now, I'll just keep being the incubator. Loving the increased movement and the fact that he's getting so big, I can feel his actual body parts poking out. 

This weekend we went to a wedding, so you get a side-of-the-mountain belly pic instead of in front of our handy dandy chalkboard. I have finally reached double digits in my weight gain, so that makes me feel good about baby boy's growth...and yet so scared for what the last 9 weeks has to offer in this area, haha! 

Hubs was in the wedding....he looks so handsome in a tux! ;)

31 1/2 weeks

baby shower cuteness and 30 weeks

Today marks my 30th week of pregnancy. People always ask me how I feel and, to be honest, I feel great! I am pretty mobile, able to work out daily, and don't feel too hot or exhausted {yet}! This pregnancy has been wonderful...no complications, minor sickness {only in the beginning}, and the majority of things that I am not thrilled about are superficial changes that I have no control over. So, I am very grateful and blessed! 

Here's what my belly looks like at 30 weeks. Baby Cole is getting so big! :)

Sorry for the work out attire. It's my summer wardrobe!!

This past Sunday my amazing friends, Jess, Melissa and Christie threw me the most adorable baby shower ever! We had so much fun! They are the sweetest and I am SO grateful to have such amazing friends in my life who love me and support me! 

Here is just a glimpse of what I was blessed with this weekend:

My cute cute diaper bag.

My amazing bestie made this for baby cole. Hop on over to her blog and check out pics from my baby shower too!

Cuteness for after the bath! I cannot WAIT to put him in this!

How adorable are these?!!

Cute onesie and matching blanket from Petunia Pickle Bottom

LOVE this set! Those pants are amazing and the onesie says, "Handsome Like Daddy"...AWWWWW!

Again, the amazing work of my friend, Jess. I love these handmade gifts!!!

Been working on the nursery a bit this week. More pics to come....

favorite things and sneak peeks

These last few weeks have been very exciting and a lot has changed! I finished school and have officially entered "retirement" and major nesting! Sweet hubs finally cleared out what will now be Cole's nursery and things are really coming together nicely. The nursery is beginning to reflect my inspiration room and I'm loving it!! Here's a sneak peek at what's been going on in baby Cole's sweet nursery!




basket for all of his toys

book shelves for baby babb's books. i started reading to cole this week. i read him a few stories from his bible each night. and last night petey wanted to read a few books to him. it was the sweetest thing! almost cried! :)

Curtain project:

yes. i painted his curtains! i saw this on pinterest {of course} and have been wanting to try it. it worked so well and we're very happy with the outcome!

my sweet aunt colleen gave me this pillow for the nursery. i'm hoping to remember {even during the midnight feedings} to enjoy each and every phase of this journey!

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Another great dr.'s visit this week. Last Friday I had to take my glucose tolerance test and I was able to see our baby in 3D again!! I never heard back from the dr. office, so no news is good news...no gestational diabetes! Yay!

Here's our sweet baby boy!

Look at those precious lips and sweet cheeks!! We're in love already! :)

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I've had one baby shower so far and a few of my kiddos gave baby Cole gifts on the last day of school. Here are some of my favorite things so far.

My stroller. The Aprica. It's so great! I am so glad I found it because it will last us through years of baby cole's life. It fits his car seat and then turns into an umbrella stroller when he gets bigger. My amazing mother-in-law ordered it for us. It arrived yesterday and was immediately opened, assembled and placed in the nursery. Excited to use it in 3 short months!!!

baby cole's bottom and back will thank me for this memory foam changing pad {from ah goo baby}! i saw this at one of my co-worker's homes and she made sure to order it for my school's baby shower! i was so excited!!

next up, baby cole's car seat handle cushion {from padalily}. i think this will come in handy as it will save our arms from hurting as we carry cole around in his car seat.

my sweet college friends are throwing me a baby shower this sunday. i feel so blessed and i'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating sweet baby boy!

baby cole in 3D

Lemonade, lemonade, lemonade! 

I cannot get enough of this stuff right now. There must be something in this "juice" that Cole needs right now. Baby Center tells me that if a mama-to-be is craving a certain food, then the baby (or your body) needs something that is in it. Not sure what kind of nutrients are in lemonade that my body would need, but I'll take it. Lemonade is so refreshing and delicious!!

Today we were able to see our sweet baby boy in a way we've never seen before...3D!! It was incredible and we had a blast looking at our sweet baby boy this way!

Although he was scrunched up, rather folded up (his little legs were completely covering up his face) which made it impossible to get a good view. We could see enough to tell he is ADORABLE! He's got his daddy's pouty lips and some chubby cheeks already! He was moving his mouth and tongue the entire time!! It was so sweet to watch! 

I will go back in 2 weeks for my GTT (glucose tolerance test) and the tech said we could take another peek at him to see if we can get some better 3D pics!! Can't wait! 

In the meantime, here is an updated belly pic...26 weeks!

23 weeks

I have loved everything about pregnancy so far! Especially the realization that God has actually created, designed, and entrusted me to be a mama! Something I've always dreamed of!!! When baby boy is moving on my early morning drives to work, I always talk to him and pray for him. I love being his mother already! It's such a beautiful and amazing thing! I just don't think I can wait another 4 months to see him, kiss his face, and snuggle him all the time!!!

While I'm waiting, I'll just enjoy these last few moments with my sweet, sweet hubby, the journey of pregnancy, and getting our house prepared for baby babb's arrival!

23 1/2 weeks

Speaking of sweet hubby. He's been reading this book.

One of our friends gave it to him when we told them we were pregnant. He picked it back up this weekend and hasn't put it down! I came home yesterday and he told me all about the funny things this book was teaching him about daddyhood. It's super funny but practical too! 

Here's a peek into some of the things he's learning about:

Hilarious!!

Petey's also read about some newborn "party tricks", been warned about post postpartum, and many more fun {and not so fun} things about having a baby! 

Weeks 21-22 weeks and Nursery inspirations

21 weeks has brought on more movement and more cravings {lemonade and pizza}. Random cravings like a specific type of pizza from a specific pizza place. As my love for pizza is amplified during this pregnancy, I have started a new Friday afternoon routine of stopping at my favorite pizza joint and purchasing one large, thin crust slice of cheese pizza and eating on the way home! 

Nothing like pre-gaming Friday pizza night with...uh, pizza! haha! I literally wake up thinking about it and visions of the NY style pizza floats in my head all day at work! 

I really hope this craving doesn't go away anytime soon! :)

Feeling baby boy move is SO amazing, SO fun, and makes me feel all the more pregnant. I have even seen my stomach jump once!!

He's so active in the mornings and in the evenings. So, I think we'll have to work on this before he actually is born. We need him on a different schedule so mommy can sleep during those times. If you've had a baby already, you're probably laughing at the fact that I actually think I'm going to get ANY sleep when this baby comes! Haha!

On April 19th we had our monthly appointment to check on baby boy. I have been extremely blessed to have a practice who likes to take a peek at our bean EVERY time we go. So, here's Cole at 22 weeks. He's hiding his face...definitely doesn't get his shyness from him mommy or daddy! 

All is well, healthy and growing as he should! Dr. says the placenta looks good and is in perfect position as well as a long and closed cervix! Baby boy is 1 lb. and about 11 inches long!

Confession: I realized I had done NOTHING to prepare the nursery. This thought often makes me anxious! However, I have exactly 23 days left of school, then I am a free woman and will have the next 3 months to do nothing but prepare and decorate Cole's room. 

The anxiety caught up with me this week and I started the planning process. First step, measure and draw up the room to plan where all of the furniture will go- check! Next step, register for all of the things that will fill his room and the rest of our house- check, check! Step 3, search and search for affordable nice fabric that I like- check! 

The fabric came in and I LOVE IT! Here is a pic of the inspiration nursery that I am basing my design off of. I love, love, love the navy and lime. I will be adding a pop of orange and lots of gray!

 {photo via pinterest}

The walls in his nursery will be gray, not lime. But, this is very similar to what I am hoping for the outcome of our nursery! My wheels are spinning like crazy and I can't wait to get started!!

Here are some other elements we will be adding to his nursery:

{photo via pinterest}

Absolutely LOVE this bench window seat!! I am finagling the budget to fit this sucker in!

{photo via pinterest}

I am hoping to order this rug. It comes in various sizes and styles. Affordable price too!

Weeks 19 & 20

Ok, so I have taken a month hiatus from blogging for no apparent reason other than, well, I've been lazy. We did travel to the west coast for a week and I am winding down with my grad school courses and the end of the school year. I guess I could use that as an excuse?!

On to the updates....

As the previous blog revealed...it's a BOY! A beautiful, healthy baby boy and we couldn't be more excited! When the nurse said the words we all screamed in excitement! Honestly, Petey and I always wanted a boy first. Don't get me wrong, we would have been excited either way, but we are thrilled for our first born to be a boy. We've had names picked out for both gender for weeks, so we were finally able to call our baby by name!

I have been wishing and hoping to feel movement ever since my weekly update told me that I may begin to feel flutters at week 15. Needless to say, I was so bummed when the weeks went by and I still couldn't feel anything! I guess baby boy is getting bigger and I can finally feel his little kicks and punches. They feel like popcorn popping at random. It's SO fun!!

Hubby started planning a trip to California as a surprise a few months ago. We got married on my spring break 2 years ago and it's been the tradition to take a big trip each year during that week {last year was Europe!}. Well, he ended up telling me and thus the planning began! :) 

We flew out bright and our first stop was LA. My college friend Allie lives out there so we got to visit her and explore LA for a few days! Fun stuff to see and do there for sure! Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, etc! 

Finally making it to LA. Fun LAX sign right near the airport.

                                         

This was our awesome rental ride for the week!!

Food and drinks on a rooftop, overlooking "muscle beach"!

My sweet friend, Allie. We were besties in college and next door neighbors! She is now big time and works in LA for TOMS shoes. Love her and miss her!!

                                         

                                                                                       

Petey and I decided to hit up Beverly Hills to see how the "other side" lives. It was fun, fancy, and expensive!! We had a great day exploring all around LA!

After our stay in LA, we started our 12 hour drive up the PCH. With many stops along the way including, Santa Barbara, Malibu, Big Sur, Santa Maria, and many more!

Here are a few pics from our drive up and down the PCH. Breathtaking fews!!

                                                                 

There's a place you can stop and view these huge lazy elephant seals. They were amazing!

We have hundreds of photos and tons of video of the coast. But, we'd be here all day if I were to show you all of those! :)