Maternity Leave Day 1 and Photos

In honor of my first day of maternity leave (and at the suggestion of a friend), I decided to do a maternity photo shoot.  I tried my best to make them artsy...

It's clearly a good thing that I chose a less artsy career.  Regardless, I think I'll be happy that I have these in the future.  It can only make you feel thinner when you see yourself so large...

While I'm at it, I might as well do a bump post.  So here is a run down of all the bump pictures in order:

Week 19

Week 21

Week 26

Week 29

Week 37

Week 39

No movement yet.  8 days to go.  If anything happens, this blog will be the place to be.

Week 37

So, its been a loooooooooooooooong time since I posted a bump picture but I thought it would be nice to document the size of the bump leading up to the big event.  And, plus, I'm sure my mom and sister are wondering what I look like at this point.  So, here it is--me at week 37:

Yes, Mom, that is the shirt you bought for me. And, yes, it looks awesome and I love it!

Nursery Update

Now that we have all of the pieces of our nursery, I thought it was about time to post pictures of the completed room.

The view from the door:

 The opposite view (and yes, those are our hospital bags, packed and ready to go):

The view from the far corner:

And one more of the crib, since its so pretty...

Its 8:30, do you know where your puppies are?

Matt and I were sitting in the living room when we suddenly turned to each other with worried faces--where are the dogs?

Yeah, its only 8:30 pm and they're ready for bed.  The life of a puppy is so exhausting.  


And yes, Mom and Dad.  This picture was taken with the new camera.  But, as a caveat, the camera was accidentally on the "scene" setting.  It takes much better pictures on the proper setting.

Worst Blogger but Best Baby Shower Ever

Sadly, I've had these pictures on my computer for the last month and just haven't gotten up the energy to post them.  Let's not even discuss the thank you cards, which I have not even started (sorry, everyone!).  However, I did have the best baby shower with all of my friends on May 20th.  I could not be more grateful to have all of these wonderful people around me.  Below are some of the amazing pictures of the day.

My lovely Grove City girls who helped Sandy throw the shower for me.  We hardly look any older than when we graduated 7 years ago.

 How do you know when you've just had a baby shower at your house?

 

When you're defrosting your meat with rubber duckies!

Week 29

Three more months to go.  Unfortunately, I decided not to use the picture in which Chase made an appearance.  He is very busy hunting from the windows these days.

For comparison purposes:

19

21

26

29

Speaking of the puppies, with the onset of spring, they've been enjoying the outdoors.

That's a Chase smile, in case you can't tell.  He likes to ham it up for the camera.

Week 26 and Update

We are now on week 26 of 40.  Only 14 more weeks to go!

For comparison, below are all three of the previous weeks' pictures:

 

The baby is now the size of a head of lettuce, for those who are tracking baby's progress as well as mine.

On another note, we've been letting the puppies' hair grow out over the winter.  We are now often presented with awesome hairstyles like the one below.

And finally, we've had a new addition to the nursery.  One of my fabulous friends bought us a pack and play (also called a playard), so we moved it into the nursery as a placeholder for the crib.  I think the nursery will look great once its finished.  Slowly but surely it is all coming together.

The playard is vintage Pooh-themed and I love it!  (It will match well in the living room once we move it out there after the crib's arrival.)  It has some great features, like the changing table and bassinet, plus high-tech features like a vibrator/massager to soothe baby and a little radio that plays music.  Plus, who can't get enough of a pillow with little Pooh ears on it?  Let's face it--baby stuff is fun!