Shower #1

Sunday, March 17 was my first baby shower! My awesome boss, Hunter, offered to throw me a shower when I told her I was pregnant. She went with a rainbow/St. Patty's Day theme since we decided to have it on St. Patrick's Day. The invitations were so cute, they were chevron pattern with rainbow colors (I will post pictures of the invitations for all 3 showers soon).

The shower was held on VT's campus in Squires Student Center. I loved the decorations. Everything was so colorful...the food, straws, plates, napkins, and decorations! It was so good to celebrate with my colleagues and former colleagues, and some of Kip's family! We got so many wonderful gifts, I am so thankful for everything!

Here are some pictures:

I wore a rainbow colored dress in honor of the theme.

The food was rainbow themed! 

Fun decorations and everyone cut out a piece of tissue paper to make a stained glass for the baby's room.

Cute little Kea!

Claire was adorable! 

Claire hanging out with Katie 

So many gifts...thank you everyone! 

Katie made me a diaper cake! 

Cynthia made a fun blanket.

Maw Maw Violet made an awesome blanket...pink and camo! It's perfect for her room.

Violet and Roger got us the Pack N Play...now baby girl has a place to sleep in our room.

Jessica made onesie cupcakes...so cute! 

Brianna bought the baby an adorable pink outfit with a hot pink hat. Love it!

Camo dress from Katie...we will have to take some pictures in this dress! 

Hunter bought something for every month for a year...tutus for different holidays, bibs for holidays, a football and VT slippers for football season, etc. Such a great idea! 

Mom wrapped up my suitcase from when I was little. It says "Going to Grandma's"

And she filled it with things the baby can take to Mimi's (aka Grandma).

The baby has an I <3 Nashville onesie...so cute!

Only 10 Weeks To Go!!

I can't believe there are only 10 weeks left until we meet our sweet baby girl (I say sweet but I am a little worried she is going to come out with an attitude since she likes to kick her mommy all day and night). Haha I wonder where she would get an attitude from? It's not like her mom or dad have one at all (just kidding, she will get it honest).

I have reached the point in the pregnancy where I have to go to the doctor every 2 weeks. My next appointment is next week. Everything seems to be going well. Sleeping hasn't been as easy as it used to be...the belly is getting bigger and heavier which makes it difficult to get comfortable at night. Other than that, I am feeling great. I did learn that wearing heels is a thing of the past until this baby arrives. Yesterday I had my first shower (more on that in my next post) and I wore heels because I didn't have any other blue shoes to match my dress. By the end of the day my back was hurting bad and still is. I think I will stick to my Sketchers tennis shoes!

The nursery is coming together. I bought and painted letters for the wall and hung them up with 3M picture hanging strips which are similar to velcro so I was able to take them down in order to keep the name a secret until she arrives. All I have to do is stick them back up once the name has been revealed.

I keep dreaming up craft projects to do because as the girls at work say, "Ciji would build her own house if she could." This statement is very true and if I think I can make something cheaper or more unique than buying it then I that's what I do. This past Saturday morning I woke up with an idea...I wanted to make my own covers to go on the crib railing. I had registered for a rail cover but it wasn't really the color I wanted. I can't sew but I need to learn because a lot of the projects I come up with need some sewing skills. Mom and I went out shopping like we do almost every weekend and we found some really cute "bumpy" soft fabric at Joann's. I needed some kind of backing to make the fabric have more shape so I picked up some of that as well. I came home and started working on my rail covers. The backing is iron on so that was nice, plus I had some iron on hemming tape so I used it to hem all of the edges. The hemming tape was also helpful in making my bedskirts for the crib that I bought when Domestications was going out of business for $1 each! Today I put iron on velcro on the covers to keep them on the crib and taaa daaa...I have rail covers! Now, when baby girl starts teething she won't eat the side of the crib! Don't mind the mess in the crib, I am still organizing the shower gifts.

Maternity Pictures

I went back and forth on whether I wanted maternity pictures taken or not. At first I thought that I would splurge and pay someone to take some pictures for me because I didn't pay anyone to do my bridal portraits or wedding photos (thanks Jessica!). The more I thought about it and looked at prices the more I realized that it wasn't worth $200-$300 for me to have pictures of myself with a big belly...what was I really going to do with them anyway. So I decided to fix my hair and makeup and take a few of myself just to document and have a few good pictures of me pregnant in something other than a white tank top and black stretch pants. We had a beautiful day here on Saturday, March 9 so I thought it would be a good day to take the pictures. I got dressed up and headed out into the woods beside our house with my tripod and camera. The camera has a "smart portrait" setting that is supposed to detect your smile and snap photos. Sometimes the setting works and sometimes it does. I guess the sunlight messed it up that day because I was having no luck at all.

So, what do I do...call my mom of course! She said she would come over and take some pictures of me. We ended up taking pictures for hours in several different outfits. I have more than 300 pictures but was able to narrow it down to about 50 that I really liked. I honestly thought we would find 10-15 pictures we liked and that would be it. I am so happy with how they turned out. Mom did a great job (with a little bit of coaching) :). Here are a few of my favorites. The rest can be seen here: http://maternitypicturesciji.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

29 Week Update

There is not too much to report. I am 29 weeks now (only 11 to go...we can't believe she will be here so soon). Last week I had my 28 week blood work done, including the fun glucose test where you have to drink some very sweet Gatorade type drink. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be except for the fact that I felt like I was going to pass out after they took my blood because I had not had any food. Luckily, the glucose test was fine so no gestational diabetes. I go back to the doctor next week and then I have to go every 2 weeks instead of once a month. 

The baby is still moving around constantly...she must get bored easily like her mommy! You can sit and watch my belly and see her moving around all the time. Speaking of the belly, it is getting bigger. I think I have gained somewhere between 12 and 15 pounds now. Still not a lot, but I feel like I have a basketball in front of me. I found a wonderful company on Etsy that makes vinyl graphics. The lady there was wonderful to work with and customized some graphics to match the theme of the nursery for me (she added some additional elements to the theme and did all of the colors I wanted). Mom and I spent a Saturday putting up the decals on the wall. I love how they turned out...they couldn't have been any better (exactly what I was hoping for).

Belly Pictures