Mom Must Haves and Advice

Since I have 3 weeks until my due date I've been making sure I have everything I need for the baby to arrive. I was thinking about it and really I'm not sure exactly what I need. So basically I'm asking for advice from moms. What are some things you can't live without when you have a baby or seem to make things easier, things for me or baby? Also any advice is also welcome. This is obviously all new to me so please leave a comment, I can use the help.

Belly update

Okay so I guess it is time to put some updated pictures of my belly. I have been putting this off but I'm supposed to be getting big, right? This first picture is from a couple of weeks ago.

Sadly this past week I started to swell. Things were going so good. I figured that since I was going to be pregnant all summer I would basically be swollen my entire pregnancy so I am very lucky that I will only be swollen for the last 4 weeks. I had Jeff take this picture on Sunday after church and I was definitely swollen after sitting for 3 hours. Not a pretty picture. Things are going well with the pregnancy other than that. Just trying to get everything ready for the boy to arrive. Can't believe how soon he'll be here.

I thought I'd just throw this in here too. Miss Cede hasn't been mentioned much lately so I'll talk a little about her. The other day the neighbors had set up a bunch of water toys and they invited some of the kids from the neighborhood over to play. My mom took Cede on a walk down to the mailbox and back. When they returned my mom told me that Cede was so sad, she wanted to play with the kids. Cede does really like kids but after being mauled for about 5 minutes she is usually done. So I said, it isn't the kids really, it is the water. Cede does not enjoy taking a bath but she loves to attack the water coming from the hose in the backyard. So to make her feel better I took her out back for some fun in the water. She loved every second. She will bark at it in this funny high pitched bark and then try to bite the water. As you can tell from the pictures she definitely is due for a cut, which will be happening on Thursday. I just thought it was so funny how her fur would cover her eyes so she couldn't see. Love this silly dog!

Cute kids!

I just had to post some of these pictures we took recently. It's been so fun to be close to family and have them come to my Mom's to visit.

Kris was able to come a few weeks ago to stay overnight while Nate and Jake were in California. So we had a fun time with Emma and Peter. Kris came up Monday morning and on the way she stopped to get the kids doughnuts. Well needless to say Peter was a mess covered in chocolate doughnut by the time they got here. So he needed a quick bath. We decided to fill up the sink for his bath. He loved it! So here are some fun pictures of the sink bath.


The next morning Ju Ju came over early. I had just gotten up and grabbed Pete out of the play pen since he was awake. We fed him and played with him for a while until Emma woke up. She ate too and then we decided to give them a bath after Pete had a blow out. So once again the camera came out. Kris was one lucky mom that morning because she got to sleep in until 10:00. See it pays off to sleepover at Mom's.
These next pictures are of Brody from this past weekend. There is a cupboard that Brody gets into in the kitchen but we don't mind because there isn't much in it and nothing to break or hurt him. We turned to look at him and he had taken a basket and made it into his seat while he was playing with another basket. It was just too cute! Then as we were talking in the great room we turned around to find Brody climbing into the dog kennel. He was so fast at getting in there but we just knew he wouldn't figure out how to get out. So Bob and I rushed over there to take the top off while Erica snapped a few pictures. We got him out and I put it back together, but he decided that he wanted to try it out again. This time I left the top off so he could play in the dog bed. We always keep it in another room so I guess it was just to interesting to resist.





Let me tell you, these little boys make me so excited to have a little boy of my own!

Fun Filled Weekend

I wrote this back on the 18th but never posted it so I guess it is better late than never.

My fun filled weekend!

Friday I went in for my weekly non-stress test. I just started these 2 weeks ago. On the first one I had 3 small contractions at the beginning but after laying down they went away. I was told to watch these and lay down at home if I start contracting. This last Friday I went in the morning. I hadn't done anything all morning so I was sure things would be great. However, I was contracting the entire time. They were bigger contractions than last time and they never stopped. I told the nurse that yes, I do contract quite often but they aren't painful and I've been trying to take it easy. My doctor was out of the office so she contacted another doctor. She said they don't look like labor contractions so they decided to basically give me the labor precautions and see how I'm doing this coming Friday. I'm just so excited to be 34 weeks! Friday night I ended up taking it easy.

Saturday I had a baby shower. It was so fun. I'm telling you, I am very spoiled. I received many wonderful gifts and it was so fun to have people there to celebrate this baby boy that is coming into our lives. We had a brunch and there was so much yummy food. My mother-in-law Annette brought sweet rolls from Shirley's Bakery in Provo. She did not know this but they are my favorite rolls! The last apartment I lived in, in Provo was a block from the bakery and I'd go by to get some before work. Thanks again everyone for the wonderful gifts! I can't forget to thank my mom and sisters, Julianne, Kristina, and Erica for planning such a great shower.
Rebecca & Abby Delight

Pete thought he was pretty funny by climbing in my present, a baby tub.

After the shower I went shopping with Jeff for a bit then we came home to relax for about an hour. Around 5:30 my parents took us to The Mandarin for dinner for my birthday. This is my all time favorite restaurant and I missed it so much while living in St. George. I don't go there often because of the wait and because Jeff doesn't love Chinese food the way that I do so it was definitely a treat! The 4 of us decided that we should just order some of there egg rolls for take out sometime and eat them at home. We could all fill up just fine on those. Best egg rolls ever! We were happy to come home and find out that we hadn't missed Michael Phelps' race. We stayed up too late waiting to watch the race but it was well worth it.

Sunday was my birthday. I am 25-years-old! I'm getting old. It was nice to have my birthday on a Sunday because the day was so relaxing. Except for the 6-year-olds in Primary. It was our second week being primary teachers and it was a little bit more difficult this week. How do you keep 6-year-old boys attention? We hear lots of stories about going to Lagoon and what movies they have seen. They also enjoy pulling their arms out of their sleeves to stick there fingers through the front of their shirts. I guess it is good training for us since we will be having a boy. My mom made my favorite dinner, beef stroganoff. I'm telling you it is amazing. Jeff and I both ate as much as we could possibly fit in our stomachs because it was so good. Then Bob, Erica, and Brody came over for cake and ice cream. My mom made my favorite cake, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and Jeff made homemade raspberry ice cream. Jeff also was kind enough to paint my toenails for me yesterday. I am to the point where bending over for too long starts to hurt so I used my birthday as an excuse to have him do something he wouldn't otherwise.

My mom insisted on putting all 25 candles on the cake. My dad thought she was crazy!
She took a picture of me after I blew out the candles but it was all smoky from too many candles.

Brody enjoying some cake with his "crazy face."

So overall, it was a wonderful weekend. Now we are just back to the normal week things. I guess it always has to happen.

Update!!!

Wow, I'm pretty lame about keeping up with posts. I'm officially 30 weeks today. Exciting! It is crazy that the baby will be here in 10 weeks. It seems like a ways away but also so close! I don't know that I'm ready yet. So here is an updated picture of the belly. Not my favorite but I didn't feel like doing my hair this morning so this is what I get.

On to baby. I had an ultrasound on the 11th and baby is great. Just a few days before I noticed that the kicking of my bladder had suddenly stopped and come to find out he has decided to turn head down. It is crazy how much more I can feel him kick because his legs are now up high. I can tell that the room in there is getting small because I am feeling all movements. Knees and feet along the front of my tummy are a constant. So far no kicking of the ribs but I still have 10 weeks for that. At the ultrasound he was weighing 2 lbs 7 oz. He is right where he should be. I'm feeling pretty good too. By the end of the day I am uncomfortable and my body starts to ache but I feel that is normal.

As for other things that have been going on. We are pretty boring. A couple of weeks ago I was eating grapes and Jeff decided to see how many he could fit in his gigantic mouth. He ended up with 28 although he tells me he could fit more if I hadn't eaten the rest.

Bill, Jacee and Kenslee came into town for a while. It was really nice to see them and spend some time together. Mostly we just ate and went swimming with them. Kens is so cute! It amazes me how big she gets every time I see her. Kris and the kids came up that week for a few days. We all went swimming over at Bracken's parent's house. They are so nice to let us use their pool!

Kenslee helping me make a cake


Erica, Peter, Ju Ju and Brody

Emma Kate

Our ward split just over a week ago. It was time. The ward had reached 700 members so it was getting a little to large. The fun news is that we were placed in the New ward so my mom is no longer the Relief Society President. The other fun news is that my dad is the new Bishop. I'm just glad that he is just now my Bishop and wasn't when I was in high school! So we are adjusting to having the phone ring off the hook for Relief Society calls to the phone ringing off the hook for Bishop calls. We are happy for him though, he'll be a great Bishop.

That is about all that is going on right now. Hopefully we'll do something fun so I can update this more often. Sorry for the 6 weeks of slacking!

24 Weeks & Ultrasound

Today we went in for another ultrasound. I'm 24 weeks and getting bigger each day, as you can tell by the following picture. Everything looks great with Baby Boy. He weighs 1 lb 7 oz right now, which is a few ounces bigger than most babies at this time. We definitely had a growth spurt this week, guess he's going to be a big one. He let us see his face for a little while this time so we got a nice profile shot. Although when we went in to get a 3D picture of his face he decided it was time to put his arm back up. Once again he wasn't at all shy about the fact that he is a boy. We definitely are not concerned that the sex may be wrong! It was so fun to see him again. I'm lucky because I get to see him every 4 weeks, I feel spoiled. While we were trying to get the 3D photo he kept moving his face around like he was mad we were pushing on him and then he started kicking me, obviously requesting we stop. I already love his little personality.

Just For Fun!

I have a few random pictures that I thought I would post.

This is my nephew Brody. He is such a funny guy! A couple of weeks ago Bob, Erica, and Brody came over to watch the American Idol finale with us. We know to pick up Cede's dog food so Brody doesn't eat it but we really haven't noticed him do anything with her water dish. Well he was kind of quiet for a while so I turned around to find this. We were laughing so hard. He keep pulling his foot out and putting it back in and making this face. It was hard to capture the face because he would quickly turn to look at his mom so the picture is kind of fuzzy but so cute! He is always doing the funniest things.




This is just an update from a post I did a while back about the nest on our front door. Well we left it there and the bird laid 6 eggs. The eggs have hatched and we have been able to hear the little birdies. Today when I came home I noticed that they birds are getting big enough that I could see some of their heads out of the top of the nest. It is so cute. We are also happy to know that this means they will be flying away soon. We have had a sign out front for about a month that says "Caution. Bird nesting on front door. Please come to garage door." I know, crazy.


I also wanted to let everyone know that my baby loves me. I was concerned because I hadn't felt him very much. I found out that my placenta is in front and it has been masking me feeling the baby move very much. On Sunday in the middle of Sacrament meeting he kicked me for the first time. It was very exciting! I still don't feel him constantly but I'm feeling him more and more every day. I've tried to have Jeff feel but I guess baby isn't strong enough for him to feel the kicks yet. It's just another thing that makes being pregnant so much fun!