No obligatory election post here!

 Instead, the moment you've all been waiting for...Baby Thydean's Nursery pics! Ok, maybe I'm just happy that it's finally freakin' finished!



This is where baby girl will be spending her first few months until she (and we!) are ready to move her to her sweet little nursery.



What you see when you walk in the door




Picture of the closet (on the right when you walk in). That's a wet bag hanging on the left for all of her dirty cloth diapers (still really hoping that cloth diaper thing works out for us!) and a Vikings tutu hanging on the right. The memo board is recycled from the Gender Reveal party and it has some pics from our maternity photo shoot and my baby shower invite (elephant) hanging on it

 

Closer view of the crib/changing table. We were lucky enough that my parents generously offered to buy the crib/changing table and mattress! Don't be fooled, baby girl has been extremely spoiled by all of her immediate family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, great aunts/uncles, cousins). We are very, very thankful and fortunate!



Some of the pics above the crib (mirror turned chalkboard/pic of hubby/sweet song)


Closer view of the pic of my hubby above the crib (the hanging pic is actually cropped more, this is how I sent it to be printed). I have blurred out her name spelled in the blocks - you'll all know the name very soon :) I love this picture so much, I think my hubby looks so happy and there's the baby, him, me (with a much smaller tummy than I am sporting right now!) and right above his head the tree branches are forming a heart! 



The other pics above the crib (elephant family/pic of me/chalkboard)

Comfy chair/ottoman in the corner (purchased off of craigslist), blanket on the back of the chair is the first thing we bought for the nursery and was supposed to be our inspiration for the colors of the nursery (didn't quite go that route, but I still like the blanket) and little poms hanging above it bought at Michaels (the mobile, if you will - also Chris's favorite thing to hang in the room or not)

Dresser is part of our bedroom set, but we don't use since our closet was awesomely stocked with a floor-to-ceiling, really nice closet organizer. The dresser was in our guest room before. Let me tell you that most of the drawers are plump full of clothes for the little girl, I'm pretty jealous of her wardrobe! The little rocking chair was a "free on the curb" pick-up that I painted (it's officially not quite done yet, but will be very soon). The storage containers in the corner were a sweet find at Aldi (of all places, 2 cubes for $6 and they match perfectly!). I already had the storage system from my dorm room days.



Excuse the fingerprints on the drawers...I bought these little chalkboard signs at Joann for like $2/4 pack. I like how it helps with the organization of the clothing. I'm attempting to make it as easy as possible for my husband to put stuff away in the right spot ;)



Cute lamp I found on clearance at Target for $6 (the shade was slightly bent, but I easily bent it back to the correct shape). I bought some TV trays to use as a small table. I've actually wanted to buy them for a while and it just gave me an excuse to buy them. Picture in frame from our maternity photo shoot and a little wood elephant tea light holder I already had.

Check out her closet! Lots of fun stuff for future use. The dresser is mine from my nursery. It doesn't have any clothes in it yet, but I"m sure it will get filled up in no time. I have everything to paint it white (with chevron stripes), but once again I ran out of time so it's in it's true form for now

Close-up of the cute little closet dividers I made. And yes, some of the clothes still have tags on them...

Some books (love the middle one, haha!) and animals on the dresser. The little lamp in the corner I got at Hobby Lobby. I saw it last spring while up north in a cute little boutique (before I knew baby was a girl). I wanted it so bad, but obviously it wouldn't be good for a boy nursery. When we were in Minot in July we hit up Hobby Lobby (like 5 times) and it was 50% off what I would've paid up north and I knew we were having a little girl by then. Good things happen to those who wait, I guess :)

And that's the nursery. I really like the way it turned out and feel like it's not too babyish (or at all!). We're feeling very ready to get this little girl to her new home (and out of her current one). This little girl is not letting me sleep and her kicks and movements are starting to get painful. I'm officially at that point where I would like to see her on the outside ;)


Maternity Pics

So, last Monday we went to a local park and had my s-i-l take some pics of us for our maternity shots. I love the way sooo many of them turned out. I was scared (for her) - since Chris and I are just not photo people....she did amazing! My favorite pics include the baby's name which we're not sharing until she's here so those will have to wait. Taking my favorite pics was also the best part of the photoshoot. It involved me laying on my back in the grass, block letters with the name on it resting on my belly and my s-i-l crawling on the ground to get a good angle. I then started laughing and couldn't stop laughing so the blocks kept falling off my belly. Good thing she is patient!!

Anyways, here are some of my favorites. I can't believe it took me this long to get these posted!

These are in the beginning - we look like we're standing as far apart as possible but we look happy

I stink at knowing where/how to place my hands in pics...s-i-l was a good help at resolving this problem

We look squinty since we're looking into the sun - but the sign looks super cute!

Chris's favorite pic of me - I wish my hair was doing something different

This one cracks me up since Chris is making a goofy face in it

My niece helped pick out some of the clothing to use - little baby clothes are adorable!

Little baby girl shoes - so frickin cute!

I'm so happy we were able to get some pics of us before she's here. I plan to do a mini photoshoot in the nursery involving the pups in the near future. I have a pretty cute idea in my head that I hope translates to being cute in a picture :) Chris will get to test out his photo skills...yikes!

Baby Shower/Small Weekend Recap

This weekend went by way too fast. I was so busy with stuff, but that's ok. Chris and I are both going into mini-freak out mode knowing that there won't be many breaks until eternity....so, yeah.

Saturday we went to a breastfeeding/newborn care class. It was 4 hours, but it was so informative and I'm  really happy that Chris agreed (he didn't have much choice) to go with me. If I'm struggling with breastfeeding our little girl, I want him to understand and be able to help and comfort me. Newborn care was a great class for him to be at, as well. He doesn't have a ton of experience with kids and everything to expect from raising a little girl. We headed to Chipotle after class (little dolls swaddled brought burritos to both of our minds) and then home for a couple hour break. I met up with Millie, S-I-L and my niece to hit up MOA for some maternity shopping. I had a lot of success and found some super cute clothes there. We also grabbed dinner at Cadilac Ranch. It was a fun night! When I got home, my feet were killing me so I decided a bath was due. It felt amazing!

Sunday was Baby Thydean's big day! For some reason I was a tiny bit nervous for the shower, mainly because I don't handle being the center of attention very well. It really freaks me out. My S-I-L did such an amazing job decorating and finding games that were fun to play. I'm not generally a big fan of baby shower games, but I did enjoy the games we played! Here are some pics from the shower:

Loved these sunflowers, so pretty and fall colored (my fav color pallet)

Yummy egg bake

My mom and I before the shower

One of the games we played we had to hang up clothes on a line while holding our baby and talking on the phone. I'm not sure I will be holding our baby under my armpit, but times get tough with a newborn around :)

          

                              Millie showing us how much of a multi-tasker she can be, I think we'll hire her for a babysitter :)

This will be me in a couple months

After Laurie won, we decided to bring her husband in to see if he could beat her time

It's hard to tell if Andrew put in a complete effort or if it was just easier to let his competitive, pregnant wife take the win!

Watching the games

 Presents! My oh my is our little baby girl spoiled! I still have not put things away, they have been moved to the nursery but that's about it.

Thank goodness I had my little Batman to help with all of the gifts - sooo cute!

Baby Girl's future partner in crime - the cutest, sweetest little girl!

Opening some presents

Alas, the time came to say our good-byes. My niece and her friend Cambrie

Great group of girlfriends - Tara, me, Megan and Jen (wish we would've taken this earlier to get our other friend Jen in the pic)

Me and Megan - she's due in Feb, can't wait to find out if it's boy or girl on Thursday!!

Millie, Me, S-I-L, and niece C

Me and S-I-L (the girl knows how to throw a great party!)

Laurie and I (she's been adopted into the family since her family isn't here) - she's due in January with another little boy

I can't thank all of my friends and family enough for showering Baby Thydean so much! It was a great day/weekend and makes us more excited to meet our little girl very soon!

Dear baby...

Dear Baby Thydean,

Please give mommy her brain back. This is really starting to get embarrassing. I'm not as dumb/forgetful/careless as I appear to be right now, I promise! K, thanks!

Love you very, very much,
Mommy aka the person that gives you those yummy treats hourly daily

Have a great weekend! We're picking up the crib tomorrow and hopefully I'll be done painting the nursery tonight. I woke up at 4 this morning and painted some before I came to work. Maybe I should ask the baby to chill on crazy dreams too so I can actually sleep??

Baby Thydean's 3d/4d Ultrasound Appt #1

Last night we went and had our first 3d/4d ultrasound appointment! We went to Enlightened 4D Imaging and Photography in Bloomington, MN. The staff was so nice and friendly. One of the best parts of this ultrasound is that I did NOT have to have a full bladder to get quality pics. If you've had ultrasounds done and know that you have to drink like 32oz of water within an hour of your appointment - you know how much of a relief this is. The ultrasound room is nice and big and I got to lay on a huge (like full/queen size) bed that is extremely comfortable. The back adjusted up and down so I could easily see the 13' projector screen in front of me. There is a chair next to the bed for the hubby to sit in. There is also a couch and some other chairs so if you have family/friends with they can be comfy too! We will have some of our family with next time so it's nice to know they will be sitting comfortably.

We probably had about 35-40 minutes of full ultrasound time with our baby girl (yep, confirmed it's still a girl!). We got 27 pictures of her and he printed out 7-8 of the really good pics. We also got a cd with all of the pics on it so we can upload them on any site, email to friends, make more copies - pretty cool and a DVD with the pics set to music (haven't checked that out yet)! He explained so much to us on what was going on in there and checked out all of the vitals and explained lots of stuff to us. He also said that I have posterior placenta which explains why I have been feeling the baby moving so much! I don't mind now, but down the line that movement could get really painful/annoying, haha!

Anyways, lets get onto the fun stuff and what you all want to see...the pics!

She looks so happy

Cute little legs and arms - looks like mama needs to eat more ;)

This is Chris's favorite picture

Looks like she's taking a little nap

So sweet and innocent

I can't hear you - This is my favorite picture

I'm hungry, when's dinner?

This was such a fun experience for us and I'm already counting down the days until our next appointment. We should get more definition in the pics by then since the baby will be more plump. Before we left we got a ton of stuff to take home with us. There are a couple different small coolers with reusable ice packs in them for bottles, a diaper/wipes travel holder, formula samples, bottles, nipples, tons of coupons for diapers/wipes/laundry detergent/birth annoucements/photobooks/carseat covers/formula, books on nursing and what parents need to know. Obviously all of this is given to them to distribute to their customers on the company's behalf, but Chris and I LOVE anything free! Plus the tote and it's matching bags are pretty cute :)



The bag of stuff and the diaper caddy/orgainzer

 

What's inside!

If you have any questions on my experience, feel free to ask! I'm not being compensated nor was I asked to do a review of this company. This is completely my opinion and I just wanted to share my experience in case anyone may be interested in getting an ultrasound done there.

After our appointment, we headed downtown and got dinner at The Melting Pot. Chris got to indulge in our 2 drinks that were included with our dinner, so he upgraded to Long Island Teas instead of wine. I was pretty jealous!! The food was amazing and we skipped dessert since we were so full. The waitress nicely brought us out a free slice of cheesecake for us to split.

Waiting for the cheese to melt, don't mind my crazy eyes - I need to touch them up a little!

We got home and talked about how much fun our evening was, chowed down some of the chocolates Chris got me for my b-day and I stayed up until 11. I'm pretty tired today...it's gonna be a long one!