Baby Shower-My Side of the Family

Yes, this is the invitation to the baby shower--my Mom made these--aren't they so cute??

Ahhhhh baby showers...so fun. I have always loved going to them, but being the PURPOSE of the shower is REALLY way better :) It's like Christmas, but for baby stuff!! I'm so glad I'm having a girl, because I totally LOVE girl clothes--but who doesn't, right?

My aunt Shaunie hosted the shower with my Mom and it was so fun--I was spoiled, that's for sure!! My cousin, Sacha, works and Babies R Us, and got the "big items," for the group present, which was the high chair and the swing/bassinet thing for like 50% off, so I was so lucky because she was able to get more than just one item!

Here are some pictures of the evening: (unfortunately, not too many because I totally forgot my camera!! So I made my Mom take pictures on her's and most of them were blurry becuase her camera is...having technical difficulties, I guess...)

Sacha made this AMAZING diaper cake for me!! She is so awesome! She teaches classes on how to do them (as well as lots of other birth-related classes) at Babies R Us.

Here's the lovely table display--Shaunie is always so cute! I love these little booties with Jordan Almonds in them (and I LOVE Jordan Almonds...)

Here I am with (left to right) my cousin, Ashley and her baby girl, Kate, me, Rachel, my wonderful neighbor and friend, and Sacha, the queen of the night with her awesome gifts and advice!! I totally look HUGE in this photo...oh well!

Ok this is totally not from the shower, but Heather's little Lauren was there, and I have this CUTEST picture of her, so I had to post it anyway!

And here's (from left to right) my cousin, Dayna, her mom, Ruth (my Mom's sister), and Grandma Evelyn!

And me opening a present!

And...the other pics of the night didn't make it past my anti-blurr filter. So, here are some pictures of some of the stuff I got!!! (mainly the cute outfits :))

My Mom got me these CUTE onesies, and the little baby sack thing you put them in--what's it called again? And a bunch of adorable receiving blankets!! That top pattern is my favorite (the receiving blanket on top of the stack)

And this adorable outfit from Ashley! I especially love the "SWEET" on the back--so cute!!

My cousin, Stephanie, (Sacha's sister) who lives in Philadelphia and soon, Tennessee, is SO AWESOME!! She gave me this hand-made blanket that is super soft, and this adorable little lamb dress!!! I was dying. So cute!!!!

And my cousin, Dayna got me these sweet little onesies and bibs. My Grandma Evelyn got me the cute booties and a gift card... they are so awesome!!

My really HIP Aunt Tammy and her daughter, Amber, got me the coolest little leopard-print outfit!! Jordan's eyes widened a bit when he saw it, hahaa... so fun!! They also got me a Baby Einstein gym also--the one where the baby lies down and plays with the stuff above her...that thing. I definitely needed one of those!

I also got a great "Chicco" high chair, that apparently, as Heather said, is the "Rolls Royce" of high chairs :) haha... and also a Little Lamb swing--so cute, from Fisher Price. Those were the big group gifts that my aunts and uncles bought me--Shaunie, Bart, Sharon, Scott, Brad, Nancy, and my sister, Heather, and her husband, Jay. Thank you guys so much!!!!

I'm so grateful to have had such a great shower!! I'm so lucky that my little girl is going to look so cute :) Thank you to everyone!!

Baby Room

So, because my house only has two bedrooms in it--one which is occupied by my wonderful, clutterful, husband... I kinda had to think about "matching the existing decor" when thinking about crib bedding, etc. Would have liked to do pink or something, but I'm getting used to this idea...

Right now, the room the baby will be in is Jordan's office. Not exactly a pastel-ish, feminine place :) Right now, there's a really pretty oil painting we bought that really can't go anywhere else, so I thought, well, I guess I'll match the crib and bedding to this:

So, I got a black crib featured here:

And my Mom is making the bedding...which will be made of the following:

The blanket will be red minky with satin border, and then my mom will put a cute little toile bow in the corner, with her name underneath (she has one of those fancy embroidering sewing machines).

Then, the crib skirt will be in toile, and she is going to make two little pillows--one in the red minky and one in the toile. no bumpers--because I heard they are dumb...

Anyway, in a few months, when she's done, and I'm TOTALLY "DONE" :) I will post a picture of what it all looks like!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!! I totally wanted a GIRL!!!! So, Friday we went to the ultrasound--I invited, of course, Jordan :) but also invited my mother and father in law, Lenore and Dan, to come and see! The room went dark and the ultrasound tech sat at the above "space age" ultrasound machine--the keyboard glowed white in the dark, it was cool, so I HAD to take a picture! It was great, although, if I were the ultrasound tech, after all the anatomy measuring was done, I'd say...like "drumroll time"...so are you ready to find out if it's a boy or a girl??? It was not like that. I mean, she asked us early on if we wanted to know and of course, since I've been practically unable to focus on ANYTHING else for the past month, I said YES (are you crazy??)... but then when it came time, it was just so "routine..." all the sudden she's like...ok well these three lines mean that it's a girl...totally nonchalant. It was interesting. We were all TOTALLY happy. I wanted a girl--not that I wouldn't have wanted a boy either--a healthy baby is just fine too :) I also have to say that Jordan told me the car later that he kept telling me it was a boy before this, mainly because he likes to get a rise out of me (of course! his main goal in LIFE!) but also so that if it were a boy, he'd be ok with the idea, because he really actually did want a girl TOO!
And she doesn't have a cleft pallet, spinabifita, and whatever else they checked for. They couldn't check for clubbed feet because, well, she was sitting on them. And for a while they couldn't see her face because her face was facing my back, instead of my chest, so that made it hard. Fortunately, she moved! And now, I have these cute pictures. I have to say, they're pretty easy to see--although it was funny--when the ultrasound tech was doing her thing, we were all like "HOW did you get KIDNEY from THAT??" I guess training is a good thing... (ps. I asked the tech if she's ever been wrong about the baby's gender...and she said she didn't know because it's not like people come back and tell her that she was wrong you know? BUT she was VERY SURE, as was the other doctor that came in, that it's a girl!)

Ah, and lest I leave this important piece of information out--the tech said that everyone says they "all look the same" in the womb, at least via the ultrasound, but she said that's not true. She remarked that our little girl looks "very cute" :) So, we're hoping for a CUTE one, or I'm sending her BACK! JUST KIDDING... (this one below is the heartbeat...) Oh, and they gave me a DVD of the whole thing, so pictures are just the beginning...

The Baby Bump...or am I just bloated?

I guess it must be a little of both. Now, for posterity's sake, and my own "looking back" enjoyment, I will tell you about how I'm feeling lately... yuck. That can describe it...You name the symptom, I've had it--to varying degrees. There was a while (fortunately, it's getting better, so this isn't as often) where I would come home from work, and just lay down on the couch ALL EVENING. It was pathetic, and my house was a disaster. (goes to show I'M the one who does the cleaning--sorry honey..hopefully he won't read this entry, but I'm just trying to be truthful) I was craving citrus and salt (but when do I NOT crave salt, may I ask??) because that kept the nausea at bay a little... or maybe citrus and salt just sounded good at the time.













Jordan actually did clean the house a couple of times during those weeks, for which I am truly grateful, even if he doesn't believe me! Now, there haven't been crazy moments like "honey, I know it's 2am, but I need some...pickles and ice cream" or anything like that, but some foods just seem to appeal to me more than others, to be honest. Who knows, maybe later on in my pregant life, I will crave something crazy like olives on cheesecake (makes me want to GAG right now!!! I heard a lady who craved this on babycenter.com. GROSS).

I've only tossed my cookies once, when I didn't eat enough and took my vitamins anyway--BAD idea. I haven't started working out yet, because just being awake and doing something other than lounging on the couch is work out enough for me these days--I know, pathetic! I've also taken two full days in the past few months and SLEPT through the whole of them...I've never done that before. This baby-making is hard work, I guess!

Some foods that always sound good:

*smoothies
*fruit--any kinds, but mostly peaches and oranges
*toast
*crackers & cheese
*yogurt
*potatoes
*steak or pork chops
*Italian: lasagna, pizza, stuffed ravioli

Tonight is a ward dutch oven cook out, and Jordan's doing his dad's chicken and potatoes thing, and that sounds pretty good to me right about now!

Anyway, that sums up my first trimester. It was hard to get a picture in which I don't have a double chin--yeah, it's pathetic--being fat is NO FUN!! This picture was taken by my coworker, Amber. She's great, and helped me kinda get a good picture, even though I had to not smile so I wouldn't have a fat face...

First Doctor's Appointment! 10 Weeks!

So, I had my first doctor's appointment and it was AWESOME!! I didn't know my doctor, but she was great. Her name is Natalie Loewen, and she's just really nice and really smart, of course!

Had I known they would have done an ultrasound, I would have had Jordan come too! But oh well. I have pictures...even though they're a little harder to make out than what I saw on the screen.



So, what the baby REALLY looks like is this:

I also got to hear the little, fast, heartbeat...and to be honest, as the doctor was trying to FIND the baby, I had this sinking feeling that maybe there wasn't even a baby IN THERE! So, I was relieved to actually see that I'm not just a crazy sick person, and that there is a reason why I feel puky all the time! Yay... glad to know there is a baby in there! So, even though you can't make it out too well, it looks like a little kidney bean laying on it's back with the head on the left side, and the feet on the right.


I was also relieved to know that I've only gained like 5 lbs... seriously, I feel like I've gained 50 lbs. so that was good! Guess most of it is air (that's what the doctor said).

Anyway, that's all...next post you'll get to see my stomach, that just won't suck in anymore...