Goodbye Tummy, Hellloooo Baby?! .. Soon?!

One week until Poppy is due .. which means nothing - except the doctor has already said he will not let me go past 40.5 weeks, so I guess it does mean Poppy will be here before July is over! Ha! As I'm reaching the final stretch of my pregnancy, I've been reflecting back a lot on how fast the last 9 months really has flown by. I remember before Benny was on board with the whole baby thing, I'd tell him, "Well, it's not like you get pregnant and then a baby pops out. It's about another year before you even have the baby." Ha.. joke's on me because pretty sure it feels like I JUST got pregnant and now baby could come at any time. It has been such a fun time and I will definitely remember it forever, so I thought I'd look back at this journey we've had so far.

Benny and I had been talking babies for awhile .. okay, like forever .. but he just wasn't quite ready and I understood that. He did this thing where he'd tell me the percentage he was ready for a baby .. supposedly when it got to 100%, that meant it was a go. (For some reason, the percentage always went up after an ISU win..wish those happened more often). It wasn't until Halloween night after we had been playing with Lily that I received the following text, "I think we need our own little trick-or-treater for next year" that I knew he was ready. I teared up and showed the text to Robyn who smiled really big and probably said, "Awwww..." The whole way back to Spirit Lake the next day, I was ready to seal the deal.. ha! However, after much discussion (and attempting to plan around weddings..which was an epic fail), we decided that we would wait until January to start trying and we'd try until May and if we didn't have any luck, then we'd take a break from trying. Well... surprise! About 4 weeks later we found out I was 4 weeks pregnant! We have fallen completely in love with our little one over the last 9 months and I can't imagine how we will feel when we finally meet him/her (and find out if baby is a him or her!)

Here's how my belly grew and grew AND GREW over the last 9 months:

Months 1-9

1 Month Prego Vs. 9 Months Prego (Notice the shirt no longer fits!)

Some random shots from throughout my pregnancy!

 I'm so glad I kept this blog throughout my pregnancy to remember it all ... I wanted it all in one post so I could look back and read through all of them!

Two Pink Lines

Telling the Husband

Maternity Clothes

Christmas Morning Reveal

Cravings!!

Hearing Baby's Heartbeat

Week 14 Mark

Books to Read

Baby Bump

Insomnia Kicks In

First Movements

Month 5 Bump

First Kicks

Halfway There!

First Ultrasound

21 Weeks

Daddy's Excited

24 Weeks

The Crib

Nursery Projects

30 Weeks

4D Ultrasound

Maternity Pictures

Shower #1

Shower #2

Happy Father-to-be Day!

Crabby Pants

Built With Love 

38 Weeks

Things I'll miss about pregnancy:
1. Baby kicking!
2. Benny touching my belly and reading to Poppy (I suppose he'll still read to Poppy when Poppy gets here..)
3. Hearing our baby's heartbeat at appointments
4. No longer eating for two - won't have a reason for 2nds anymore! (like I need a reason...)
5. Planning the nursery - we've had SO much fun designing, building, planning, picking things out, etc.
6. Pants that don't button .. might try to wear those as long as I possibly can.
7. The suspense of not knowing whether Poppy is a girl or boy...
8. Side Hugs - I can't reach Benny in a straight on hug anymore, so I have to turn to the side .. it makes us laugh.
9. Nesting/Crafting Instinct - Although my house isn't any cleaner, it is more organized and I have become quite the crafter (and if you know me, you know I don't have a crafty bone in my body!)
10. All the questions/comments from my little ones. They crack me up!! They are so fascinated by my belly and say the funniest things.
11. Knowing baby is snuggled up in my tummy so close to me all day every day!

Things I won't miss about pregnancy:
1. Getting up to pee a thousand times a night. (Now I'll just get up to take care of baby!)
2. Running my belly into corners .. OUCH!
3. None of my clothes fitting!! (Including my maternity clothes now!)
4. Not being able to shave my legs or paint my toenails.
5. Non-stop tummy itching. Ugh. (probably my biggest complaint throughout the whole pregnancy)
6. Throwing out cake and brownie batter and raw cookie dough -- it makes me want to cry to not lick the spoon and bowl when I'm done ... but I won't put baby at risk!
7. Lack of oxygen.
8. CRAZY emotions - from rediculously happy to bawling sad in .2 seconds.
9. Peeing in the smallest cup ever made - if you've ever been pregnant, you know what I mean. 
10. 70 degrees feeling like 100 degrees

What we've done to prepare in the final days: (No matter how many times Benny reminds me we aren't moving into the wilderness for the next 3 months, I still feel like that's what I'm preparing for..ha!)
1. Clean, clean, cleaned the house! I am a huge fan of this nesting thing ... my house will NEVER be this clean again.
2. Installed the car seat
3. Packed and re-packed and re-packed hospital bags
4. Wrote Poppy letters from each of us - we plan on doing this each year for his/her Birthday
5. Started filling out parts of the baby book
6. Stocked up on paper plates and plastic silverware (We will be taking a 3 month break from dishes.. or at least that's my hope!)
7. Filled our pantry with easy-to-grab snacks.
8. Spent time together as a couple and with friends
9. NAPPED and slept in! I NEVER sleep in .. it's against my religion .. but I have been taking full advantage of it because I know I will never have a chance again! Haha.
10. Finalized daycare plans - which was a BIG deal for me...
11. Made a phone tree of who needs to be notified by whom and a list of people we'd like to contact right away before the news hits the press (aka Facebook). Made sure dad knows where our hospital bags are and the most direct route to the hospital from wherever he may be at the time. I kind of like to plan...


I've loved pregnancy and really didn't have many complaints - just a few small annoyances! We have been truly blessed to have a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy to this point and we pray that it continues (It's DEFINITELY the final countdown!) I know that this has not been the case for so many people who have had incredibly complicated pregnancies, so we thank God every day for how smoothly mine has gone and we give kudos to them for being so strong through all the trials of theirs. We try not to complain about the small things knowing there's always someone out there who has it way harder. That doesn't mean I don't get a little hormonal at times, but for the most part, we just keep thanking God for Poppy. We're starting to get nervous about baby's arrival, but we are so excited to meet our little one and know that we will learn as we go just as any new parent does. We already have the deepest love for Poppy and know it will only grow the first time we hold him/her. We are thankful for all the support, prayers, advice, etc. we have been given along the way ... Poppy will be here soon!

I really hope to keep this blog going with all of the excitement of watching Poppy grow, but you'll have to bear with me as we adjust to our new life plus one. It will probably take a backseat for awhile (or who knows..maybe I'll keep up!), but I will do my best to keep you updated. I thank everyone who has shared this journey with us and hope you have enjoyed reading because I sure enjoy blogging! I'm sure someone will get to Facebook before we do to post the exciting news and while I wish I could surprise you all with a "Poppy's Here!" post, I know that will not be the case .. too many excited people!!

Built with {LoVe}

I had big visions for Poppy's nursery. I realize Poppy could care less about it, but it was something to keep me busy over the last 9 months. We hadn't touched the spare bedroom since we moved in, so I was glad to have a reason to do something with it. Benny and I had a lot of fun with all these projects (okay, probably more me than him) and really learned how to not kill each other  work together .. ha! It's so great to see that it's almost complete even though we'll probably be adding on here and there once Poppy is born!  Here are some of the bigger projects that we have completed so far.

Dresser

*I had a million different ideas for a changing table as the months went by. I knew I didn't want the traditional changing table and some of my ideas were just too unrealistic. We finally decided we were going to order a long dresser to put the changing pad on, but they were all SO expensive and were going to be too big for the space anyway. One night Benny reminded me that my childhood dresser was at my dad's house. I got really excited, but wasn't sure if the measurements would be right. I had to go over the very next day to measure and sure enough - they were perfect! I was SO excited to be able to use the dresser which is meaningful AND free. Benny worked hard to strip the finish off it and repaint it white and had to deal with my never-ending requests to touch-up spots. I ordered the yellow knobs off Ebay and even though they are a little more orange than I had hoped for, I still love them! It's already stocked full of diapers and supplies!*

Window Cornice

*See blog about the window cornice here: Window Cornice *

Footstool
*The ottomon that matched our rocking chair was going to about an additional $100 and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had lots of ideas for ones to make, and then found this steal! A store was going out of business and was selling their shelving. This little shelf was on sale for $5.00 ... AND an additional 50% off. I snatched it originally to be used as a little bench right inside our front door as we had been searching for an affordable one forever. I had Benny touch up the paint with the leftover white paint, remove the top, and I added some foam and fabric that matched the crib sheet. I think when we're done with it in the nursery, I'll change the fabric and put it back in the hallway. This project probably cost me about $11 total as I had some of the materials already. It's now stocked with some reading material and will have my nursing stuff and anything else I might need during late night feedings!*

Closet Organizers

*I'm sure you've seen these on pinterest. I just bought door hangers from Walmart and painted them and used a paint pen to decorate them. Benny says if we have a boy I have to redo the purple ones, but I'm not going to. It's nice having all the clothes in the closet organized!*

Embroidery Fabric Hoops

I fell in love with this idea and it was EXTREMELY cheap. In fact, I'm not sure you could find much cheaper wall decor. Plus, I got to add some color to the room. I'm not in love with how they look right now - I think some rearranging or adding some other circles or SOMETHING is necessary, but we just had to get them on the wall to see what we wanted to change/add! Oh, and this is officially the FIRST clock to be hung in our house. How crazy is that?! Benny's mom bought us a beautiful one for Christmas, but we're still looking for the perfect spot to hang it. This mirror was a wedding gift and I've been in love with it from the minute I opened it, but we never put it up until now. It's perfect for the nursery because it has inspirational sayings all around it.

**We have a few more things to hang up on walls & a couple things that will have to wait until Poppy arrives -- like the name! After that, I'll post lots of pictures of the nursery! It's our favorite room in the house and I just go in there and stare at it a lot .. I know, I'm a weirdo!**

36 Weeks & Counting

 We've waited almost 9 whole months ... and we're SO close to the answer ... Boy OR girl?!

 When I put this picture on Facebook, there were 8 guesses for boy and 9 guesses for girl. (And one for healthy -- oh, Joyce!)

Well, at the end of every appointment our doctor would say, "Your goal is to stay pregnant until 36 weeks." Mission accomplished. We had a close call, but I'm officially 36w5d now so I'd say we are good to go.

How I'm feeling:

Anxious to meet our little one

No swelling - ring still fits!

Heartburn (just a little..)

COMPLETE exhaustion - I left work early every day to come home and take a very long nap and then still go to bed early. But I am awake from 3-5 or sometimes 3 on every morning so what do you expect?

Less contractions at the beginning of the week, but they are back stronger than ever now!

Holy backache!

Itchy Tummy 

(I feel like I've tried everything from different lotions to baby oil to olive oil to benadryl and nothing provides relief. So I just have to do what I can to keep my mind off of it so I don't scratch away!)

Cravings:

Milky Ways

Smoothies

Butterfinger Blizzards (homemade by the hubby)

(See a theme yet?!)

Chicken Quesadillas (from El Parian to be specific)

Overall, I feel pretty good okay. The heat got the best of me this week, but I've been staying hydrated and trying to stay in the A/C. Thank goodness I have the most flexible job and most understanding boss! The contractions are getting stronger now and occasionally even painful, but they go away if I walk around or change positions or drink water. Baby is very active which always makes me happy (even if it is at 4am). I don't feel kicks so much anymore, just lots of squirming. And I always have body parts poking out of me. Benny loves watching them move around.

Most of you already know we had a little scare at our weekly appointment. The doctor sent us in for an ultrasound as he was worried baby might be out of space and there might not be enough fluid left in there. I've been telling Benny for awhile now, "Baby could really come at anytime." But I think him actually saying it made me realize -- oh, yes, baby REALLY could come at anytime. Trust me, I'm thrilled to meet baby, but it's also terrifying. And for those of you trying to guess Poppy's gender, the heartbeat was 142. :)

I shook through the whole ultrasound and at one point thought I was going to be sick. It was not enjoyable like our other ones - especially because she wasn't pointing out cute little noses or feet - she was just getting measurements - and she was in a hurry. But mostly, it just hurt because my tummy is so tender these days. Anyway, in the end it all turned out normal and baby can stick around in my tummy for a little while longer (unless Poppy decides on his/her own to make his/her grand entrance).

Packing the hospital bags!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other baby news, the car seat is installed and Benny put the stroller together (like we plan on going for a stroll anytime soon). We pushed it around the kitchen some and then I insisted Benny leave it there just so I could play with it. Ha! We're such freaks but we really are beyond excited for this baby to get here! We finished up some last minute shopping and used some gift cards from my showers to purchase some of the necessities we had left. It was quite the day! We had to go back to Babies 'R Us and take off our entire purchase and do it all over again because the lady didn't give us our 10% off, any of the buy one get one 50% off, or our other coupons.. what an ordeal! Our hospital bags are packed and ready to go at any time ... minus a few things we use every day. I've packed and re-packed probably 10 times just out of excitement.

Ready for a stroll?

We had an awesome weekend! We were so excited our friends Chris and Wendi came to see us and brought their adorable daughter, Emma. Wendi has been so helpful throughout my whole pregnancy by answering a million questions and giving lots of advice/moral support so I was pretty excited to chat babies with her. I've been dying to meet Emma forever and she's now 6 months old - definitely have waited too long. We had a blast watching Emma - she's probably the best baby I've ever seen - and Benny told me today he misses her! Ha. I'm also glad it motivated us to get our house clean!

Hanging out at the Barefoot

Since we know our lives are about to get crazy busy for awhile, we decided to go out and do some things this weekend despite the heat. We had some "AGCO fun money" from Benny's work to spend at the amusement park so we went there Saturday evening. I obviously wasn't getting on any roller coasters, so we walked through the mirror maze and laughed at my belly, ate GIANT ice cream cones, and I used the remaining money to buy my first "Okoboji" shirt. Ha! Saturday night we went to the Barefoot Bar and hung out with my dad, Tami, and a couple friends for awhile. We couldn't believe this was our first time at the Barefoot this summer. This morning we got up and went to church and then met with the pastor to discuss the possibility of becoming members and also to talk about Baptism. We already feel like we're part of the church family -- the man that said he would pray for our baby sought us out today and told us he's been praying! It was so sweet. And the pastor said the ladies at the church will make us a weeks worth of meals when baby arrives. Benny got everything done on his honey-do list, so we went back to the Barefoot and listened to the Dueling Pianos. It was kind of nice to just sit by the water (in the shade with a cool breeze) and listen to the music/talk to Benny. They have helicopter rides around the area right now and Benny REALLY wanted to take one, but they took one look at me and said I couldn't go. Lame.

And other than that, we've been playing with our new toys -- smart phones -- this week and are officially addicted to Words with Friends!

Addicted?

Testing out the new phone camera! I hope Poppy is as attractive as we are!

We are really looking forward to the 4th of July and hoping it won't be too hot for me to enjoy the festivities. Our next appointment is Tuesday so we'll see what the doc has to say!

Crabby Pants

No Sleep + Carrying a Heavy Human Around + Raging Pregnancy Hormones = Very emotional and crabby Grace .. watch out!

I really haven't had any complaints my whole pregnancy and if this is the worst of it, well then I'd say I've been pretty fortunate. If you are one of those people who is going to say, "This is a blessing so why is she complaining?" please click the little x now. Trust me, we count our blessings EVERY day and thank God for Poppy and the healthy pregnancy I've had ... but growing this miracle is no easy work, so for once I am going to whine.

I've been EXTREMELY emotional and crabby these last couple weeks .. so if you see Benny, please remind him I'll return to normal someday...maybe. He's a saint for putting up with me and never once complaining about my mood. You wouldn't believe the things that can cause instant tears these days! For example, I don't think he'll ever say, "Wow. I slept so amazing last night" again. Just for the record.

When you go to bed every night knowing that after a few hours of squirming you might get an hour of sleep and then you'll be up for the rest of the night and will watch the sun rise, you dread going to bed. From 8pm on, I'm just praying that I'll be able to at least get a few hours of sleep. My theory for a while was that if I tried to stay awake later, I'd be so tired that I'd surely sleep through the night .. ha. That ended up just meaning I'd sleep even less hours. I had a good week of sleeping a couple weeks ago and I felt like a million dollars .. unfortunately, it was short lived.

The main reasons I can't sleep are due to an excessively itchy belly that NEVER ever stops itching, leg cramps, restless leg syndrome, aching joints, no longer being able to roll over to switch positions without sharp pains, 801 trips to the bathroom, and hot flashes. This weekend I decided to throw a HORRIBLE toothache and some serious tummy aches into the mix - hey, why not?

Yesterday I woke up in the chair at 5:30am after being up since 3 and I couldn't even move because I was in pain. I thought I had to go to the bathroom so I basically stumbled my way there .. once I got there, I was sure I was going to be sick and then I broke out in a terrible sweat. I was in so much pain I wanted to wake Benny up but didn't .. tried to walk around for a little bit and finally just started feeling better. I took my temp. because I felt like I was burning up -- it was 97.4 - ha! I'm not sure what that was all about but it sure was scary.

The number one comment that drives me crazy is, "Well don't expect this to change when baby comes." Trust me, never once have I thought, "Once baby gets here, I'll just sleep all the time. Won't that be nice?!" While I'm sure I don't quite know what kind of sleepless nights we're in for, the fact that babies don't sleep at night is not a foreign concept to me. Hopefully this is just my body's way of preparing me for that and I'll be a pro by then .. ha. At least I won't have to worry about being awake for work for 3 months! The one thing that keeps me going is Poppy is always up with me squirming and kicking away .. that's something that will never grow old and I'll definitely miss when he/she is no longer in my tummy!

Well, now that the sun is coming up .. I suppose I'll get ready for the day and maybe even make the husband a nice breakfast for all he's put up with lately .. orrrr .. I'll drive to McDonalds and let them do the cooking .. a greasy hashbrown sure does sound fantastic right now.

Hopefully you all enjoyed a peaceful, sleep-filled night! :)

Showered with {LoVe} - Part 2

My aunts are some of my favorite people so I was delighted when they offered to throw me a shower. It was a great turnout, we all had a blast, and I was overwhelmed by the gifts we received. Our living room currently looks like Babies 'R Us and I LOVE it. I'm so excited to put all of it away in the nursery that I almost want to skip work tomorrow.. but I promise I won't .. maybe.

 Lovely Aunties

Delicious Food

Favors

 

 "A little candle for you to light once the stork has made it's flight. The flame will glow to celebrate Baby Edwards' arrival date." I LOVED this idea!!

Opening Gifts

 Wonderful Guests

 Very Special Gifts

We received several very sentimental gifts. On the left are 3 things that remind me of Lauren - a Barbie, her favorite book "Where the Wild Things Are" and a Thing 1 & Thing 2 Sleeper all from her mom, Lisa. In the middle is Lauren's Simba stuffed animal from Lori & Fred. On the right is a box full of goodies from my mother-in-law Donna -- it had Benny's dad's baby quilt, baby towel, Benny & Steve's baby books, and some of Benny's baby clothes... in the picture I'm holding up Benny's footprints from the hospital.

Our house turned Babies 'R Us ... cannot wait to put this all away ... 

Showered with {LoVe}

I enjoyed my first ever baby shower last weekend. My friends Ashlee and Jenessa were so sweet to throw this shower for me in Spirit Lake and even though only a few people could make it that day, we still had a great time and Poppy got lots of good stuff! The theme was none other than "Shower!"

The Hosts

Ash, Me, and Jen

The Guests

 

The Details

1. Watermelon Buggy from Grandpa John (Coolest.Dad.Ever.)

2. Baby Edwards' first ABC book

3."Cloud" Punch

4. "Thanks for Dropping By" favor bags with lemon drops

5. Little Ducky Rainboots

6. Shower Invitations

7. Poppy at the Sign-In Table

8. Children's Book as Guestbook

9. Lovely Flowers from Jenessa

10. ABC Book Instructions

We had a lot of fun & Poppy got lots of cool gifts, including some Iowa State themed presents (of course!):

I was in love with how the ABC book turned out. Here are some pages the artists at my shower created:

 And just so Benny won't feel left out...

I'm looking forward to my shower this weekend with family & family friends and another in August with even more friends!!

Poppy's Big Week!

Babycenter.com: "By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth."

Poppy had a big week this week -- we got to see him/her moving around in the 4D ultrasound, listened to his/her heartbeat, and had pictures taken.

In preparation for Poppy's big week, mama decided to chop her hair off ... I needed a summer/mommy/easy to care for do! It's not really so easy to wear straight, but it takes about 5 minutes to scrunch!





And then we enjoyed some ice cream to celebrate Poppy's big week .. Poppy makes such a good table!










4-D Ultrasound: See blog about our 4D ultrasound here -- 10 Little Fingers, 10 Little Toes

32 Week Appointment: This was a longer appointment than they have been recently -- probably because we discovered that my nurse is our next door neighbor ... and all this time we never made the connection! The other night her and my other nurse were in her driveway and even said, "Look at that cute pregnant lady getting her mail" not having a clue it was me. Small world, huh?

Poppy's heartbeat was 150. The exciting news was that Poppy has turned .. he/she listens to mommy and daddy so well already!  The dr. said we still have a little ways to go but there's still room in their to move. Poppy is a little over 4 lbs. (Still a little peanut!) Poppy moves like CRAZY these days .. I just love it! Every now and then I'll get a hard kick/punch/whatever that hurts a little, but we're both so fascinated that we love watching my belly move all over the place.


Maternity Pictures: We won a family session from Extreme Images by Ashley and decided to use it for our maternity pictures. We had SO much fun with Ashley and love the pictures we've seen so far. Benny even enjoyed the photo shoot and told me he didn't think he used his fake smile. Like "Extreme Images by Ashley" on Facebook so you can check them out. :)

Nursery Update: The changing table/dresser is in the room; now we just need to decide how to arrange the furniture. I'll post a blog about the dresser as soon as the cute knobs come in. I also made a footstool for the rocker -- Poppy has brought out my inner crafter! The next two weekends are filled with baby showers and then we'll be buying what's still needed to be all ready for baby. I get all teary-eyed hanging up all the clothes we have so far..they just seem so little. We were pretty excited to find out Amanda and Anthony are having a girl so now we have some girl stuff on hand in case Poppy is a girl, too!

How I'm feeling: I honestly feel really great! My only complaint is the constantly itchy belly but I've been trying a few different things to help with that. I am sleeping alright other than my arm being sore from my Tdap shot! I'm crossing my fingers the remainder of my pregnancy goes as well as it's been going. 

LoVe

10 Little Fingers, 10 Little Toes...

.. a precious little mouth and a little wrinkled nose!

Have I mentioned how much Benny and I completely adore our little miracle?! Because we are totally, completely, rediculously in love.

Poppy was somewhat cooperative for our 4D ultrasound today. I had to lie on my side for most of it so they could get a better picture. He/She kept wanting to put his/her hands, feet, umbilical cord, etc. in front of their face. My foot fell asleep halfway through but I didn't say anything because I didn't want them to move me and not get as good of pictures... ha!

It was a unique experience because the hospital is demo-ing new machines to decide which one to buy, and we were offered a free ultrasound. There were 3 techs in the room, a guy with the  company, another guy from the hospital, Benny and myself. At one point, they went and found my doctor in the ER to show him. It was quite the party!! I think Poppy loved all the attention because he/she was moving around like crazy.

I stuffed a few kleenex in Benny's pocket before we went in remembering how emotional I got last time .. 5 seconds in and I was already asking for them. Everyone in the room would "aww" in unison when we'd get a good picture. They said out of all the ultrasounds they'd done today, ours was getting the best pictures! They were very, very careful to not really go in any other area than the head so that we didn't accidentally get a peek at anything. It was tempting once again, but we did not give in.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the ultrasound (you can see all of them on Facebook) and as soon as I get ours scanned from the last ultrasound, I'll be sure to add them:

Hand, 4 Chambers of the heart, Foot, Blood pumping to the liver!

Poppy sticking his/her tongue out!

Our precious little Poppy .. more and more in love every time I look at these!

And here's a couple videos of our little one. The first is of Poppy sticking his/her tongue out and the second of Poppy moving all around and putting a hand up!

Poppy Sticks His/Her Tongue Out!

Poppy Moving All Around!

30 Down, 10 To Go!

How far along? 30 Weeks

Total weight gain: 27.6 lbs and counting!

Maternity clothes: How about growing out of maternity clothes - ah! I can't fit in anything not maternity anymore and I struggle to even get in some of that. My favorites right now are cotton dresses (so comfy!), my maternity leggings, and a blue shirt from Target.

Stretch marks: Yep -- I call them "growing a miracle" marks.  I've never put more lotion on my tummy in my life -- I feel like I could scratch my tummy right off! Benny thinks I'm going to scratch our poor baby's face off. I keep a bottle of lotion by the bed & use it multiple times during the night but it doesn't seem to provide much relief.

Sleep: I've been sleeping really well - just toss and turn sometimes to get comfortable.

Best moment this week: Hearing Poppy's heartbeat and finding out we get a free 3-D ultrasound.

Miss Anything: I really miss being able to wear t-shirts .. now my tummy sticks out the bottom! I wear Benny's but they look awfully silly...

Movement: Poppy is VERY active .. he squirms, kicks, punches like crazy. It's fun seeing little limbs stick out from my belly.

Food cravings: I was seriously craving some graduation/wedding cake, pasta, cheez-it cheddar jack crackers!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Just childbirth classes..ha. And really the thought of any of that stuff makes me instantly turn green.

Labor Signs: Nope .. and let's keep it that way!

Symptoms: Itchy stomach, a little bit of swelling in my ankles when I'm up for too long, still very tired. 

Belly Button in or out?  Out about as far as a belly button can go ...
Wedding rings on or off? On! It doesn't seem to be any tighter yet..

Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty darn happy! We are just so excited .. I do have some moments where I panic, or get a little nervous, but overall I've been very happy!

Looking forward to: Our 2nd anniversary, Cyclone tailgate tour, a 3-day weekend, painting the dressers for the nursery, baby showers, and our 3-D ultrasound!!


10 Weeks to Go (Give or take a few..)! Poppy will be here before we know it!

Team BennyGrace Vs. Window Cornice

Prepare for picture explosion. Benny doesn't understand why I need so many pictures of our projects, but I told him to be a real blogger I need to have step-by-step directions and picture documentation. Now if only I had any photography skill what-so-ever. We set out to make the most adorable window cornice and I'd say we accomplished our mission. And let's remember that Benny and I are the two least handy, least crafty people on this planet - so this is a project that ANYONE (including a caveman) can do! I'd get you step-by-step instructions, but you can find those here: DIY Cornices .. we changed up a few things (we have an excessively large window) but this will give you the idea and if you have any questions, my darling husband will be more than willing to answer them for you! I made him measure the window at least a thousand times... Enjoy!

It all started with a not-so-little board. We loaded up in my dad's truck one rainy Saturday morning to make the 20 minute trip to Menards. As we were leaving town, I looked at Benny and said, "Maybe you should measure to make sure this will even fit in dad's truck." He groaned, pulled the truck over, got out in the rain & measured and looked at me and shook his head -- 1 Point for Grace. So we headed to our local Bomgaars and picked up a 1x10 pine board (you can also use plywood or even foam I've seen..)

 Benny insisted we measure it out rather than just cutting it on the nice crease so that I wouldn't have to worry about cutting straight...

 And then I ironed the fabric with our tiny ironing board (this was the first time it had EVER been used) and the iron we borrowed from my dad (also the first time this iron had EVER been used)

 We wrapped batting around the small board and then wrapped it in fabric & I went to town with the stapling gun!

Benny was being all Martha Stewart and had to make it all perfect... 

 Almost done with side #1!

 Yay!! We have two sides .. and an adorable Benny in the middle!

 Once again, the famous Benny "hmm.." look!

 We connected the boards using "L" brackets - you are supposed to use the bigger ones, but Benny thought I wouldn't notice that he went cheap .. I noticed.

And... crash! If you remember earlier where I had mentioned that I wanted to just cut the fabric on the nice crease and Benny insisted we not waste ANY fabric and measure it all out ... well, he realized that this being our very front window in the house - everyone would see a board with a bunch of staples on it and batting/fabric from the outside .. so we cut the fabric TO the crease and stapled it on the back. 2 Points for Grace.

This is where Gpa John came in..

 These were the roman shades that were on the window -- and they were VERY expensive ones, let me tell you .. they came with the house. But they just weren't going to do with our adorable new window box.

 We've made quite the mess in Poppy's room!

 Benny's pottymouth definitely came out during this ordeal .. apparently his drill doesn't fit behind the window box. And also, the cord doesn't reach the outlet. 10 minute break while Grace finds the extension cord.

 Doing some measuring..and figuring..

 Gpa John & I got bored so naturally he put on a Chicago Bears wrestling mask... I put it on, too, but you'll never see proof of that!

 Where'd Benny go?!

 Putting the new roman shades up (a MUCH less expensive version...) And this is about the point where Benny bled all over the brand new white roman shades. You may be thinking, "Well why did you get white for a kid's room anyway?" Good question - because it matched and is highly impractical. But, the blood wiped RIGHT off so I think we're safe...

This was about the point where I said, "So does it make you mad that we'll only keep the room like this until Poppy's like 2 and then we'll redo it based on what Poppy likes!" I got a death glare and then, "Poppy will live in this room with this window box FOREVER."

 Never give a drill to a pregnant woman... it's dangerous! I did, however, avoid the ladder!

 I think we wore daddy out...

 But we still really love the window box!

 I'm in LOVE with this! Although, I DID tell them to put the box a few inches down to cover up the window and not have a gap .. Benny will be fixing that because he doesn't want to deal with the sun waking Poppy up!

I can't wait to get the crib skirt that matches the window box. And don't you love the adorable swing I bought that morning at a garage sale -- $10 and it looks brand new! However, grandpa John already claimed it so I guess we'll be buying one after all! Just waiting for Poppy's chair to arrive to take up that corner.