We loved having Grandma come!

Time has gone by way too quickly and I'm a little behind on blog posts. Now that Lacey is here and our lives now revolve around her I am sure the majority of our blog posts will be all about her.

My mom was able to come out a couple of days after Lacey was born to help out. I couldn't be more grateful for her! I don't know how I would have gotten through the first week without her. The first few days were rough with trying to feed Lacey while we waited for my milk to come in. It was great having my mom here to help with the feedings and diaper changes while I pumped or got other things done. Now that she is gone I miss having someone here to hang out with all the time. My mom is one of my best friends and I hate that I only get to see her once or twice a year. I was so sad to see her leave and glad that we are going home in a few weeks for Christmas.

We love you Grandma Susie!

Family of Three

Our family isn't just Scott and I anymore, we are a family of three. Scott and I cannot believe that we have a daughter. We're parents, and we are absolutely loving it. I was a little nervous about how I would adjust to being home all day and not going to work like I have for the last 10 years of my life. The last 2 weeks have flown by, and I have loved every moment of it. Scott and I just stare at her and are in awe of how amazing she is.

Lacey has been the perfect addition to our little family. She is absolutely amazing. She sleeps like a rock, just like her daddy. She is such a happy baby and pretty much the only time she cries is when she is hungry. I cannot believe that she is ours.. to keep.

Proud Daddy 

Our first family picture.

Things I will/won't miss about being pregnant

Things that I will miss:

• Being able to eat whatever I want and then  blame it on being pregnant and eating for two. 
• Wearing pajama pants whenever I want and not have anyone question it. 
• Feeling Lacey move around, and knowing that it is something that is just between me and her. 
• Having an excuse to why my stomach isn't completely flat. I do have a little flexibility with this one. I can still blame my tummy on the fact that I just had a baby. 
• People being excited for me and Scott.
• Sleeping through the night

Things that I will not miss:

• Constantly being told how huge I look. I understand that pregnant women get bigger when they get closer to their due date. However, I don't that anyone appreciates being called huge under any circumstance.
• Having to get my momentum going to change positions.
• Not being able to bend over comfortably to tie my shoes or pick something up.
• People wanting to always touch or rub my belly.
• Having only a couple outfits to choose from because nothing else fit. 
• Feeling like I swallowed a basket ball.
• Always worrying about the last time I felt Lacey move.
• Going to the doctor so often

Just the two of us.

I was talking with one of my friends about how anxious I was for our little girl to arrive. She just had her first little one in August and reminded me that this will be the last time that it is just Scott and I for a long time and I should take some time just to enjoy having it be the two of us. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how right she is. Both Scott and I are so excited to have a little family of three, but we should take the time to enjoy being just the two of us. This could be the last weekend that we had to ourselves.

This last weekend was Scott's "Fall Break" (meaning that he got Friday off from school). We originally planned to go mini-golfing, but most of the places around here that have good reviews are only seasonal, and unfortunately the season is over for mini-golf. Instead of mini-golfing we went to Culvers and got some food and custard. 

Saturday we were invited by some of our neighbors to go to Sprechers and do a tour of their brewery. Sprechers is a pretty big thing around here. They make a few different kinds of beer, but they are mostly known for their root beer. At the end of the tour you are able to go try unlimited soda (and a few beers if you're into that kind of thing). Scott and I aren't really big soda drinkers but they do have good cream soda and root beer. They give you a small glass to use as you sample the different drinks and then keep as a souvenir. This has been on our list of things we want to do in Milwaukee, and it was fun being able to go with a group of friends. 

Who knows, maybe this weekend we will get to spend more time as just the two of us again! 

October Craziness

It is crazy to think that October is finally here. I feel like it took forever for October to finally roll around. This is the month! Life is going to change in such a huge way for both Scott and I.

Our little girl is due exactly 3 weeks from today. Which means that she will be here in 4 weeks at the latest. (My doctor said they would induce me at 41 weeks if she doesn't come on her own.) I don't know if I really understand the impact this event is going to have on our lives.

Is this really happening?

The whole becoming a mom thing doesn't feel real. I know that we will be adding a tiny human being to our family, but I don't know if it has really hit me yet. I think being a little uncomfortable all the time has just become the norm for me. I still have moments that I forget that a little baby will be joining us very soon. Things are going to change over night, I will go from growing a human to being a mom. In a few weeks we will be bringing a little baby home from the hospital, one that we get to keep and raise all by ourselves. It just doesn't seem real yet, I feel her moving around in my belly all the time but she won't be there for too much longer, she'll be in my arms. I wonder if it still won't seem real even after she is here.

There are moments when reality sets in a little. It's crazy how many emotions are involved with becoming a mom.

Are we ready for this?

I like to make lists, pretty much any kind of list, to-do lists, shopping lists, lists of my goals, bucket lists... you get the idea. For the last several months I have been making list after list of things we need for the baby, things I want to get done before the baby comes, things I want to sew or make for the baby. This last weekend Scott and I went through our list of things we want/needed for the baby and finished checking off pretty much everything. As far as "stuff" goes I think that we will be ready for the baby to come (as soon as our packages arrive). I feel like this is a pretty big check off of my to-do list.

I was doing really good with the list of chores that I wanted to get done before the baby, but a couple weeks ago I caught a nasty cold bug and it totally wiped out my energy and motivation. Now we are getting down to the wire and my chores list seems like it is never ending. I probably could get through the list fairly quickly if I wasn't pregnant. I never realized how tiring it is to do things when you are 37 weeks along. Bending over, picking things up, moving around just isn't as easy as it once was. Hopefully in the next week or two I will have all of my "deep cleaning" projects done.

The second trimester was such a breeze, I had a lot of energy, my bump didn't get in the way, and I was overly ambitious with projects that I wanted to do for the baby. I finished a quilt for the baby while I was still in my second trimester and even made some matching burp cloths.  I started on the pictures I wanted to do for the nursery, but then the third trimester hit and I am just so exhausted some days. Over the last several weeks I finally finished the pictures for the nursery, now I just need to find the time to hang them up. The last thing on my "to-make" list is a blessing dress. My mom made my blessing dress when I was a baby and I love to sew so I thought it would be fun to make one for my daughter. The closer this girl's due date gets the more I am starting to think that she might just use the same dress I was blessed in. (Once the nursery is done I will post pictures of the quilt and pictures I made)

So we have the stuff, I'm making progress on the cleaning, and most of the nursery projects are done, but emotionally I don't know if I will ever feel ready to be a mom. I feel ready for her to no longer be squishing my insides, I feel ready to dress her up in all cute outfits that were bought for her, I feel ready to kiss her cheeks and cuddle with her, but I don't quite feel ready to take on the responsibility of raising a child. That's a lot of pressure, and it makes me a little nervous just thinking about it. (What if I am terrible at the being a mom thing?)

A little terrified

I guess it doesn't matter how long you have to plan for a baby to join your family, it's a little terrifying and overwhelming sometimes. I really like being able to plan ahead, and keep to a schedule and have everything go my way. We have this due date, but it doesn't really mean anything. The baby could come today, tomorrow, in a few weeks. There isn't really a way to make a "plan" when it comes to having a baby. That scares me, what if I go into labor in the middle of a meeting or  something?

I'm also a little terrified about breast feeding (Maybe TMI?) What if I can't do it? I know that I can always use formula, but for some reason the idea that breast feeding might not work out scares me.

The other thing that freaks me out a little, and maybe it's superficial of me, is the worry about how to lose the baby weight that I have put on. I haven't ever been a super small person, but I was doing really well and lost a bunch of weight right before I got pregnant. I'm really hoping that the people who say breast feeding helps melt away those added pound are correct.

This is so exciting!

Along with all the worries and to-dos we couldn't be more excited. We cannot wait to hold this little girl in our arms. We cannot wait to be her parents, and become a family of three. We are so excited to have a little girl of our own, and hope that we can  raise her right. We can't wait to see her little personality. I can't wait for Scott to learn how to change a diaper (haha). We are so excited to officially have the title of  "mom and dad."We know that there were be bumps in the road and this transition might be rough for a while, but we couldn't be more happy and excited for this little girl to come. Now we just get to wait...

It (was) my Birthday!

I think I like Scott having birthdays(and half birthdays) more than I like having my birthday. This year was pretty laid back. Scott had a bunch of studying to do and I wasn't to picky about what I wanted to do. I was able to sit back relax and read a little while Scott studied and then he took me out for ice cream. Usually we go to Kopp's to get custard, but we had a gift card for Cold Stone, which I don't think we have had in a couple year, and decided that we would go there instead. Scott is a cake batter ice cream with brownies kind of guy and I love their oatmeal cookie batter with brownies and caramel. It was a nice treat, and since it was further away than we expected we decided to both get the big size, which ended up giving us desert for a couple of days. 

We had a couple friends over for cupcakes and a game on Friday to celebrate. It was a perfect way to "celebrate", even if I didn't win the game. 

We bought Blue frosting, and it turned your entire mouth
blue when you ate the cupcakes.

26 is a lot of candles, I almost blew them all out, but I
blame being pregnant for decreasing my lung capacity.

Scott said that we needed proof that I actually do have friends.

Ugh... the number 26 never seemed so high.

I know that in the long scheme of things that 26 really isn’t that old, but it’s weird how much I dislike the fact that I am now 26 years old. I work at a medical school, and all those people who used to be my age or older are now 3 and 4 years younger than I am… how did that happen? When did I become so much older than the incoming college students (these are people who have already finished their undergrad)?

Although I don’t like the fact that I’m not young anymore I am excited for what this next year of my life will bring. There are so many things that I am looking forward to in the coming year.

In about 8 weeks my life is about to change in a really HUGE way. This year I’m going to become a mom, which is so exciting and so terrifying all at the same time. I have always wanted to be a mom and it is about to happen. Side note; I’m due next month! Granted, not until the end of the month but it still seems so crazy that I can say that my baby is due next month.

Now that I’m not in school anymore there are a lot of new things that I have been wanting to learn. This year I think I want to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I have used both programs before but I only know the basics. I enjoy taking pictures and doing design stuff, so I think I would enjoy learning more of the nitty gritty. Maybe if I really like it I will take some official classes.  

After our first year of being married I put together a book with all the highlights from the year. My plan was to do one every year. Currently I am a little behind since I haven’t made one for any of the years since. I am working on getting the 2012 book done right now and then I will have 2013 book left to catch up.

Blogging… I feel like I am still working on doing better in this arena. However, now that Scott has officially been claimed by dental school and studying I probably won’t have a whole lot going on that I feel the need to blog about. I’m sure that once we have our little girl here I will have a lot more pictures to post.

Right before I got pregnant… and super nauseous… I started to get into a routine of eating healthier and getting in some quality exercise. I quickly fell out of that routine when all I wanted to do was sleep and veg-out on the couch. (I am really nervous about losing my pregnancy weight, so as soon as I get the okay from the doctor I plan to jump right back into something to get my weight back down.) I like getting into a routine, and hopefully I can stick with something.

I’m sure there are a lot of other things to look forward to, but those are the things that are on my mind right now.