We're Home!

We are home from the hospital and happily adjusting to our new life of three. Enjoy the pics!

The happy family of three...

What a rough life...
Thanks for the cute outfit, Auntie Shannon!On our way home...cute girls in cute dresses!

Headed home!I'm even cute when I'm not even trying!

Ali's first time in her crib...she's so tiny!
Hook 'Em Horns! Ali's first UT football game.

TEN!!!

All great countdowns start with the crowd enthusiastically yelling "TEN!!!!"

What great countdown are we starting you might ask? Well, if you haven't been paying attention . . . it's the final countdown to Ali's due date! That's right folks, TEN days from now she is due to make her entrance into the world!! Now, the actual percentage of babies who do, in fact, make their entrance ON their due date is discouragingly low. Not shocking, I suppose, considering you are predicting a single day 9 months ahead of time. But still, in light of the fact that we don't know WHEN exactly Ali is going to come--might she be early? There's a full moon this weekend . . . and she is measuring ahead. Might she be late? Aren't most first babies late?--the countdown to her due date is the only concrete countdown we have. So, say it with me everybody: TEN!!!!!!!!

By the way, for you betting types, there is a poll on the right side of the page: place your bets! Will baby girl come early, on time, or late?

For your viewing pleasure (???) and sticking with our theme of "ten," we'll call this set of pictures "What a Difference Ten Weeks Makes."

Week 28

Week 38

As proof that life doesn't hold its breath with the rest of us, waiting for the big day, we have had a lot going on in the last week! The short version: Alex broke his finger, our fence blew down in a storm, and our car was stuck in a shop for more than a week because the sole mechanic hurt himself while working on it (cue carpooling mania). Though things were definitely a little harrier for a few days than we would have preferred in this final stretch, the good news is that Alex's finger is healing quickly, the fence was repaired free of charge by our neighbors' rental agency, and our car is out of the shop and driving smoothly once again. Whew! Thank you, baby girl, for not deciding to make our lives even MORE interesting by appearing in the midst of all that!

We are actually (dare I say it???) facing a 3-day weekend with NO plans, other than relaxing and maximizing our last few days of doing nothing together. The 'Horns season opener is this weekend, so the extent of our plans is to find a way to watch a little football. And I can say after the couple of weeks we've had, we are sooo looking forward to a little relaxing downtime.

We hope you all have equally relaxing weekends ahead!

Stay tuned . . . now that we're in the final countdown, we know it won't be long!

K.

The Nursery

We had a final fabulous shower this weekend, and it was so wonderful to get to see my in-state family! We finished off the final touch on the nursery--hanging Alina's name letters that Alex painted--just before the first guests began to arrive. Enjoy!

This is the view from the doorway.

This is the wall to the right of the doorway.The back wall of the room.
These are the letters TH painted for Ali.The view of the far side of the room from the recliner.
The poem over the changing table.
The closet area.
And the final touch . . . a "Starry Night" night light.

Yowza!

Check out the "Mommy View":


No wonder . . .
(1) people who haven't seen me in a long time give me an uncontrollable, wide-eyed, shocked stare.
(2) I drop a lot more when eating--I have to sit like a foot farther back now! Good thing the belly catches everything I drop. :-)

Maternity Pics

I know, I know, it's been a while since y'all have gotten an update! Things have been wonderful and BUSY here--Alex has been working on getting his latest project wrapped up and traveling on his last business trip before Ali gets here, and my work has been C-R-A-Z-Y busy. It seems like every spare second in the evenings is spent doing laundry, getting the nursery ready (we're like 97% done!!), going to childbirth classes, and trying to keep up with all the other, non-baby-related chores that everyday life brings. Whew! Thank God for our DVR . . . we have time to watch TV for about one hour, twice a week. We have to think carefully about what shows we're actually going to stay current on!

I had my last bi-weekly appointment this week, and it was great! Ali is head down (stay that way, baby girl!) and has slowed her overly enthusiastic growth down . . . she's now measuring in the very manageable 65% (rather than the 90%) and is on track to be a healthy 8 lb. baby. Perfect!! Her legs are still measuring ahead . . . I'm wondering if we're going to have a long-legged lady on our hands! I get next week off from doc appointments, and then the following week I start my weekly appointments where we will start looking for and tracking any progress toward labor and, ultimately, a baby!! I can't believe I only have 5(ish) weeks left!

We've had two wonderful showers already, one in Dallas with my mom and Alex's mom's friends, and one here at my work. Everyone has been so incredibly thoughtful and generous--Ali is one LOVED baby already. I've got my friends shower this weekend and can't wait to see everyone . . . I feel like we have really fallen out of the loop in the last couple of months, and I'm sure that will only continue to be the case once we have a newborn. Then next weekend my family is coming together for one last shower at our house. I feel so incredibly blessed to have so many people excited and wanting to celebrate little Alina!

Now for some fun pictures. I have been so fortunate this pregnancy to have not only one, but TWO outstanding photographers take maternity pictures of me--one as a trade for services, and one to simply get more experience and build her portfolio out. Their styles are as different as they are innovative and breathtaking--how wonderful that I have pictures in both styles with which I can document this amazing and brief time of my life!

From Kristen Joy Photography:

This one is half Dad, half Mom . . . and all love!

And from Azini Photography (*note: you can check out the rest of the sneak peeks (haven't gotten ALL the pictures yet...) AND some pictures of our nursery (gasp!) if you follow the link . . . but be aware that they are ALL bare belly pics!):

So, that's what's been going on with us! Working busily in the final weeks to tie up all the loose ends and get ourselves ready for the most amazing new addition ever. I hope all is well with everyone, and we will DEFINITELY keep you all updated as things start to *happen*!

Alina in 3D

Last weekend Alex and I got to bring our parents, my grandparents, and my sister along with us to a 3D/4D ultrasound! We wanted to be able to share the excitement of seeing Alina, and while Alex and I are used to seeing her in 2D, being able to see her in all her adorable round cuteness was a new level of love. True to form, she was being extremely camera shy. She was using any body part she could to hide her face from us--arms, legs, feet, whatever! The ultrasound tech told us we have a "real snuggler" on our hands. I can't wait for her to get here so that she can bury her face in MY neck and shoulder and arms.

The other amazing revelation of the day was . . . hair!! That's right, Ali has hair. Quite a bit in fact. Enough to stick off her head in little tufts. It just blows my mind. There is HAIR in my abdomen. Hair. Wow!!!

Enjoy the pics!

Here I am with my foot up over my head. What can I say? I'm running out of room in here!

Check out my big toe! It's the only part I can really stretch out anymore . . .

Here's my arm. Don't you just love my cute little chubby wrist?

I like to explore my little world with my hands. Hmm . . . what is that? Oh! Another hand!

Check out my guns! I'm going to grow up big and strong, just like my mom!

Ok, I'm done with the photo shoot. Time to hide my face behind my arms AND legs!

Truckin' Along

To answer the question that seems to be on everyone's lips lately, yes, I'm feeling fine and the heat isn't bothering me too much at all! With temps consistently over 100 degrees, it's good that (a) I'm a Texas girl and actually like the hot weather (gasp!) and (b) I work inside.

Not a lot going on in baby news to update on--nursery is coming together, slowly but surely. Alex and I start our birthing class next Tuesday. We went on a tour of the new labor and delivery wing of the hospital I'll be delivering at, which definitely made everything seem a lot more real. At our last monthly appointment (they'll be about every 2 weeks for the next three, and then every week 'til the end!), Ali was still measuring big--about one week ahead in all measurements!

In non-baby updates, there are quite a few tasks that need to be crossed off the list. They didn't all happen this month, but I thought I'd give you a brief recap of them anyway.

#3: get published as an editor or writer--I've been doing a steady amount of freelance work for a small local company for almost a year now, and actually have my name on the inside cover as the editor. Neat!

#8: motivate husband to create his own version of goal list and time frame--we had a great discussion in Hawaii, and though Alex will never create 101 goals, nor write them down, he was able to articulate his own version of this list and list time frames within which to complete the tasks. Yay for goals!

#18: avoid getting sunburned--this will be an ongoing task for the rest of my life, but I'm proud to say I spent a week in Hawaii without getting burned! Even though the summer is only halfway over, I'm not anticipating another week in the sun (see above reference about working indoors), so I'm going to go ahead and cross this one off.

#19: go to the dentist consistently--after my second 6-month dental check-up, I feel confident in saying that I have found a dentist I love and have gotten back into the 6-month dental visit routine.

#24: no fried food for a month--at the beginning of June, I just decided that it might be a good month for a health challenge, so I gave up all fried food. It wasn't actually all that hard! Good thing I picked a month with only 30 days. :-)

#26: take a mental health day--it hasn't happened yet, but I have decided to take every Monday in August off! This is huge for me, and I am really struggling with feelings of guilt. I keep thinking to myself, I don't really need that time off, that's just being lazy, etc. Then Alex reminded me that not only will I probably be fairly uncomfortable by then, it may very well be the last time for like 25 years I have some "me" time. That helped me feel a lot better about taking those days off!

#34: get a water softener--yay! That was our last item on our original "things to get for the house" list!

#37: have the neighbors over for dinner--we finally had our neighbors over for dinner. Too bad it was only five days before they move back to the Fort Worth area. :-(

#59: tell my family I love them whenever we hang up--I am so proud to say that I have gotten very good about this one! My dad and brother were the hardest to do this with, and maybe it's being pregnant, but I suddenly just don't care as much . . . life is too short not to tell your loved ones that they are loved.

#77: clean out house and donate at least twice a year to Goodwill (5 times total)--PROGRESS. We've not donated 3 loads, and I know after I have the baby I will donate a bunch of pre-pregnancy clothes that simply won't work any more. Almost there!

#86: sew something--ok, so the spirit of this one was to create something crafty with my hands. I didn't sew something per se . . . I knitted something. That's right. Apparently, when I'm pregnant, I knit. I made a little baby hat and am working on a matching body suit. I can't wait to put them on Ali!

Whew! As you can see, lots of progress made! Hope all is well with everyone, and that you are all finding ways to survive the summer heat.

With love,
K.