35 Weeks along!!!

Wow... two  more weeks until we're full term!!!  Woo Hoo!!! Unless she's actually a week and a half older than we had originally though in which case only a few more days until we're full term!!!  OH MY!!!  This is getting serious!!!  She does seem to be pretty big and I can definitely feel her growing more and more every day.  Many of her movements are actually becoming quite painful and tend to actually stop me in my tracks.  Hopefully, on Monday we'll find out for sure.  In the meantime I plan to take advantage of a lazy weekend before tackling my last week of work next week.  I really hate that I have to leave my one-on-one who has created a very special and eternal place in my heart as well as some co-workers who have offered hugs on hard days, shared laughs, and really made my time working seem a little less like work.  It's been an interesting and enlightening few months.  I've learned more about myself and what I can handle than I ever thought was possible, the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking.
      Now it's time to start planning and packing for our move.  We recently learned that we will be moving to a new house during the same week as our due date which has added a whole new level of stress, but luckily we have an amazing military family here who is going to help us get through it.  As much as Michael and I say that we hate California, the friends that we have made here are forever friends and we will always think of them as our family no matter where the military send us all.

Our Surprise Baby Shower

      This weekend our amazing military family threw us an adorable surprise baby shower.  Everything was done in an adorable pink jungle theme, the food was super yummy, the games were lots of fun, and the company was all of my favorite people here on the West Coast.  We truly are blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.  Without them life would be unimaginably dull and depressing here on the other side of the country.

 Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the shower itself so I'll post the ones everyone else took later on.

Plenty of Diapers from everyone

A memory game!

The contents of the basket game

Gifts from my Mommy

Pearl's Christmas Gown (made by my Mommy) with matching bows (made by Aunt Holly), matching headbands, and matching burp cloth.

A beautiful gown hand smocked by my Mommy

Michael got a kick out of this one.  Embroidered by my Mommy

This is the afghan that my brother Cody and I were both brought home from the hospital with

Diaper pail, bags, pacifiers, kitty wubbanub and teethers from Auntie Kara and Uncle Justin

Adorable clothes from Auntie Kara and Uncle Justin

An amazing growth chart made by Auntie Kara

A sweet little owl gown, a monkey stroller toy, a little lion, Baby E Caterpillar roller balls, wipes, an Easter book, an elephant crib sheet, and a super fun hippie outfit from Auntie Misty, Auntie Steph, Uncle Nick, and Uncle Jeff

An adorable dress from Auntie Alicia and Uncle Tom.  I don't know why the picture shows it's pink.  It's actually red!

A beautiful and USABLE diaper cake made by Auntie Steph, Auntie Misty, and Uncle Nick

A super sweet Baby's First Christmas ornament that was on the diaper cake!!!  I had looked everywhere for one that I liked and somehow they found the perfect one!!!  :)

From Auntie Bethany and Uncle Sam.  A Minnie Mouse changing pad, burp cloths, a rockin skirt, adorable romper and cute socks and mittens, and a lovely minky blankey

Kyler mustache you a question!!!  :)

Fun Diaper messages!!!!

Adorable pacifier balloon!  They guys had fun with the rest of the balloons

A super sweet painting done by Auntie Misty from Pearl's military family.

A super sweet gift from Alex at work!

Pearl needs to clean her room!!!

Week 33!!!

 I really need to start setting a reminder to take my belly pics especially since we only have 7 short weeks left to go!!!  I can't believe how fast it's going by.  Her movements are much more pronounced now.  I can literally see every movement she makes and am feeling her in some crazy ways.  Her head is down now so now instead of having her head on my right side by my ribs it's now her little butt and/or feet constantly in that spot.  She sure does love that one spot.  It's very strange to now be able to feel obvious feet, hands, butt, and head all at the same time.  Very strange feeling but very cool and something I definitely want to remember.  Kinda shocking at times but still very very cool.  Last night she had the hiccups for a long while and Michael got to feel them while we were laying in bed watching Sons of Anarchy.

Cravings

Taco Bell hard tacos

Apple Juice

Banana Bread

Strawberry Banana Yogurt

still nothing too wacky... and here I was looking forward to dipping pickles in peanut butter and chocolate ;)

Our New Home

It's official.  We're moving early December!!!  Eeek!!!  The military is giving us movers which we are going to use and then we'll just have to put everything where it goes.  It's going to be a CRAZY December that's for sure!!!  But... since we're going to be moving early December I stand a chance at actually getting my Christmas decorations up!!!  Anyhoo... here's the floor plan!!!

Pearl's Bedding

      Searching for the "perfect" baby bedding is a nightmare when it comes to little girls.  So many frills, and princesses, and weird patterns.  As you all know I am going for an "enchanted forest" look.  Woodland creatures, and magic, and imagination, and such.  Pretty and magical but without the "Disney" look.  This look, as you can imagine, is hard to do when all of the baby girl bedding out there is well... GIIIIRLIE!  Before we had found out that we were having a girl I had found this bedding and had fallen in love with it but wasn't sure how well I could make it work for a little girls room, however I was completely stuck on how fun it would be to have an enchanted forest room.  I stuck with it and I am so glad that I did.  When I received the bedding in the mail this week (courtesy of my loving family) I got it out right away and looked at it to make sure it would still work for us now that the rest of the room is pretty much completely put together (only to be torn down and moved to another house in a few months... more on that to come though).  I had already been thinking and talking about putting bows on the animals but now that it was in the house I just wasn't sure I had made the right decision. It was much more brown that I had thought it was, however I put the comforter on the crib, grabbed one of Pearl's bows that her Aunt Holly had made for her, held it up to the bear and smiled.  It was ADORABLE.  So, I washed the bedding and started making bows for each of the little woodland creatures.  This is the end result.  I think the bows gave it just the right amount of feminine touch! :)

Before

After!!!

Nursery Update!!!

I love love love to putz around in the nursery.  It's my favorite room to be in... which is good since I foresee that I'll be spending a lot of time in there anyways once our little joins us.  We're really starting to feel ready for her.  There's only a few things that we need and a few things that we need to stock up on a little more but for the most part we are ready for her first couple of months with us aside from a few things.  Also, one thing that will change fairly soon is that on top of the white bookshelf there will be a tv and blu-ray player and I'll be moving the other items elsewhere.  This way Pearl and I can watch movies while we're cooped up in her room for late night feedings, excessively long daytime feedings, long crying sessions... etc. etc. etc.  :)

Here's a little sneak peak of the inside of her drawers (because I know you're just dying to see!) :)

This is the top drawer of the changer.  There will be diapers in the first cube.  I just moved things around a little for the picture.

The second drawer of the changer has socks, sleep sacks, mittens, hats, bibs, and bloomers

The third drawer of the changer has a crib sheet, cradle sheets, a changing pad cover, and some other linens (which I need to learn how to fold better)

The door of the changer is where I'm hoarding lotions, shampoos, powders, etc.  Every time I go shopping a get one item to add to the stock.  On the bottom is her health set (which when it's out of the box will be in the first drawer) and her grass drier (which will be moved to the kitchen once she arrives), along with breast milk storage bottles and a small changing pad.

The top drawer of her dresser has footed jammies and gowns.

The second drawer of her dresser has onesies.

The third drawer houses her tutus!  :)

The 4th drawer is 0-3 months

and the 5th drawer is 0-3 months.