35 weeks

35 wks 1 day ~ 1.28.1

So ready for Grace! I just got to that point. She can come early. The belly is getting in the way, I hurt, sleep is a memory and I waddle. I have apparently "dropped" which may explain all the discomfort and have a variety of other pre-labor symptoms. I would like for her to wait at least till 37 weeks, but by all means at that point I'll be praying her along! :)

I had one of my baby showers this past weekend too thrown by Grandma, Great-Grandma and Auntie to be! It was so special and fun to talk with other mommas. Grace was given so many goodies! We are so beyond blessed! God provides so much for us. Thank you everyone for coming and showering baby with so many gifts!

How did I get here?

This is a question I have reflected on a lot lately. How did I end up here in my life? There is a simple answer to that question. Gods plan is far greater than mine! Let me explain "my" plans for myself.

3 years ago: January 2008 - I was a junior in college, single, and absolutely loving life. I had no intention of "settling down" for a few years. I was going to graduate the following year, become a full-time teacher, buy a house myself (this is my favorite - on a teacher salary!), then maybe consider a husband. Children were not in the picture until I had accomplished all of these things and at least worked for a few years. Toss in a Master's degree and I was going to be set. (Not one of these played out.)

2 years ago: Student teaching is in full swing and I absolutely adored it! Teaching is my passion. I was also now engaged and going to be married in April. (so throw my plans from last year out the window!) My fiance already owned a house, so I still was becoming a homeowner, just not on my terms. We decided together to not even bring up the idea of children until our second anniversary (April 2011). I was still going to teach for those couple years and live my dream.

1 year ago: The September after we were married something was weighing heavy on my heart. I tried to ignore it for a while, but God doesn't let you ignore Him. I wanted a baby. When I finally sat down to talk to  Steve about it, I was not the only one God was working on. (This is 5 months after our wedding having this convo, definately not 2 years!) With budget cuts and layoffs, I was not teaching full time, but rather substituting. We prayed. And prayed. What did God want!?!?! Steve was set to leave for Japan in January and so we decided to take that time to really pray for understanding and re-evaluate "our plans."

Now: 8 months pregnant and just waiting for Baby Grace to get here. How I wouldn't want life any other way! She will be here just before our 2nd anniversary and I cant imagine just starting to have the conversation. How blessed I feel to have been obedient when God called upon our hearts! Life really isn't up to us. We make great plans and dreams and have discussions, but we forget that God needs to be remembered in those plans. He must think our plans our crazy! Surely He laughed at me 3 years ago as I told Him exactly how the next 5 years of my life were going to be. The beautiful things is, is that God is giving me the desires of my heart because I fully trusted Him and he changed my desires. He has far greater plans for me then I could have imagined for myself. I am married, I joyfully take care of my house and make sure it runs smoothly, I am having a beautiful baby.I am tremendously blessed! All these things were not in my plans, but each of them is precious in the sight of God - especially when He calls upon us and we listen!

When making plans our first thoughts should be: How can I glorify you best? What do you desire us to do? Show us wisdom and lead us in our decision making. We trust in you and want to follow your lead. Change the desires of my heart to match up with yours. All easier said than done! But by faith and obedience this is what we should do. Especially since it is abundantly clear that His plans are far greater than mine.

Grace in 3D

Not as good as the real thing, but close enough for now!

We had a 3/4D ultrasound done at 34 weeks to get a glimpse of Baby Grace. What a personality she has! Here is the visual story:

She started the ultrasound with her hands in her face. Great picture of both hands up close! But really hard to see what she looked like.

 After some poking by the sonographer, she was forced to move her hands down, and she was NOT happy about that! This is when she decided to get ulrtra serious and pout!

This was a full on tantrum! Obviously her frustration shows in her face. We just laughed at how cute she was! She also would whip her head back, smashing her nose against my uterus (so that's what that is!) and the back of her head hits my bladder (so that is what that is!) You can still see her hand, but now she is hanging on to the cord.

 After we were done laughing at her fit, Steve started talking. As soon as she heard his voice, we watched her face soften and relax. That was amazing! She actually started to smile and calm down. So he just continued to talk about nothing so we could get some cool shots! She is smiling.

Side shot of her smiling. You can really see her chubby cheeks and little double chin here. (that is from her father! lol)

Eventually she was tired and starting to sleep again. These last two were her most "relaxed" face pictures.

We are so happy we had a chance to do this and take our family along with us! She had such a huge personality! We keep looking at both our newborn pictures and comparing facial features. She has a little of both of us for sure! A little less than 6 weeks until my due date!!



32 weeks & 3 days

I think I am definately ready to STOP growing. She can continue as long as I dont have to, haha. About 7 or so weeks to go!

* I am definately a lot more tired lately again.

* Putting on my shoes, socks, or even touching my feet is now an aerobic workout. I live in flip flops. Solves all problems.

* We toured the hospital and birthing area this week. Getting pretty realistic!

* I am SO excited for upcoming baby showers. I cant wait to celebrate her with other family, friends and mommas! (Some of my random pregger facts may be good to know....) :o)

* Pregnancy cravings have pretty much subsided for now. The thing I craved most while pregnant was definately sandwiches. The weirdest thing was lemons.

* I dont want to even talk about weight gain. Or stretch marks. Ever. Im ready to hop back on the treadmill and run.

*One of my favorite parts of pregnancy is feeling her move around. And shopping for her little itty bitty things. Babies R Us is my new favorite store.

* We have anywhere form 5-8 weeks until she is here. That is crazy and exciting all at once!

Our Year in Review

We have had such a wonderful and extremely blessed year of 2010! We are so excited for 2011, but here's a recap of our busy year.

January, February, March - Steve left for Japan right after the new year. He was away January to the beginining of May. I found many ways to occupy my time. I substituted a lot, created our wedding scrapbook, redecorated our house, started a garden, took both puppies to obedience classes and hung out with family.

April - We celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary. It just happend to be half a world away from each other. Time flies so fast!

May - My hubby came home! Memorial Day weekend we were busy replacing our roof. We had a lot of fun doing it ourselves and happily saved so much money! I love my handy-man!

June - My 23rd birthday and we found out were expecting! Life changed from this month on! We prayed a lot for God's timing and were so excited to share the news with everyone!

July, August - Morning sickness in full force. Suddenly being pregnant wasnt so "glowing." Steve drug me out one night to buy an AC unit. I swear that saved my stomach! He turned 26 in August and spent the summer building a deck in our backyard and playing on his new favorite kayak. We did manage to have one family day at the ocean with our pups.

September - busy wondering what Baby was. Steve had another away work trip to Everett for a couple weeks. I was just getting over my morning sickness so it was okay he was away for that time. By the time he came home though I was healthy, starting my 2nd trimester and getting a little bigger!

October - It's a Girl!! Baby Grace Olivia was officially named and the shopping for her began!

November - Steve went on his annual hunting trip to Montana and had a great time with friends and family. I was eagerly awaiting the fresh meat and excited to not have to buy meat at the store anymore! We had a wonderful winter storm that knocked out our power for four days, but thankfully returned just in time for Thanksgiving!



December - absolutely flew by! I joined a mom's group at our church and am starting to meet other momma's. Grace got lots of presents for Christmas. We envisioned our Christmas mornings from next year out. I was 30 weeks pregnant at Christmas so we kept things low key. We rang in the new year at home, I was sleeping!

We cant wait for 2011 and to meet our little girl in two months or so!