Week 38

When I first got pregnant, I had little interest in maternity photos.  I thought they were great for other people but I didn't really care to have any until I started to progress in my pregnancy.   As I started to fall more and more in love with this little girl I started wanting beautiful photos to show how special and wonderful being pregnant is. I think they are really awesome in contributing to the process of getting excited.  Sean goes biking in the area we took the photos, it is kind of neat that we were able to find such a beautiful place like this in Nebraska.  Our photographer did an awesome job!

Photo Credit: Kelsey Hadley

http://kelseyhadleyphotography.com/

Week 37

We went to a little farm to get pumpkins this weekend, My belly was bigger than most of their "medium" sized ones!   I can't believe how big we both have gotten and still have some more time to grow!  

Her nursery is finally finished!  We are FINALLY ready for her!  I love it so much, it is one of our favorite rooms in the house to be in.  It has been so much fun putting it together and a really neat project to be a part of with my husband.  

 My husband is the sweetest.  This mobile has a long story behind it.   I commissioned  a local crafter to make this for me, I told her exactly what I wanted, and the end result was terrible.  I'm a bit of a pushover so I  paid her for a poorly finished product.   The string was twine/hemp and the branches were covered in it.   The bottom row of birds kept tipping over, so she thought a rock dangling from it would balance it out (it didn't)!  I wasn't about to hang a dangling rock over my daughters crib, plus it looked awful.  I was so disappointed and sad.   My husband spent the whole week trying to fix her mess, and to do exactly what I wanted.   He was such a rock star.  I'm so in love with this mobile, one because it is adorable, and two my husband was a total superhero and saved the day and fixed it.   

 A bear, bunny and two owls.   These will come out if baby is sleeping of course. The little white owl Sean gave me when we were dating and won it from a claw machine, the other three were a baby shower gift from my Aunt.  

 I love love love our glider!  I sit in it all the time now, and she isn't even here yet!  My dad helped us out with this one.  

 Last year we visited a Liz Lemon art exhibit at the LDS Winter Quarter's Visitor Center.  When I saw this picture there, I said that it was going to go in my first child's nursery.  We purposely placed it behind the glider so when we are feeding her she can see Christ and become familiar with him.  I love the title "Come Follow Me".  When I envision my Savior, I see myself walking closely behind him and seeing him this way.  

We had much more luck commissioning these pieces of art.  Our friend Juventino Navarrate did an amazing job on these.   

 She has SO MANY DRESSES!   We are going to have to go to church 8 times a month instead of 4 in order for her to be able to wear them all.  

 Sean's mom made the owl and my grandma gave us the cute little bear.  We have received so many books for her as well!

We got so lucky with this changing table, we purchased it used and it matched our crib perfectly

 So in love with the little deer night light.  

Rocco loves being in the room as well.  We put a dual fan/heater in her room to circulate the air and he loves to sit in front of it.    

Such a handsome daddy on the soft white rug we got for her tummy time.  

Week 36

I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I love my job on here, so just in case it isn't clear, I love love love my job.  I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to be able to be a dance educator where I work.  I learn something new every day from one of my students.  I learn how to be a better, hard working person & better person in general.   I teach students from ages 2-18 and they all have something incredible to offer the world.  Children are amazing, and the particular group I work with are some of my favorites, because they love dance and so do I.  Good children usually come from good parents.  These children have some neat parents, I have a certain love for parents who choose to put their children in the arts, and sports, and an even greater love for parents who put their children in dance class.  Week 36 was a rough week for me, I had a series of ups and downs, for every good thing that happened, it seemed like two bad things would happened.  I was becoming a little discouraged with life and kept thinking "can't I just catch a break?!"  Saturday morning before I went into work, I put on a pair of sweatpants, an over sized T-shirt, put my hair in a pony, and put on some mascara.   I was a little defeated and wasn't going to invest a ton of time into my appearance that day and try to stay as confined to the corners of the studio as possible.  Working brings me out of whatever mood I'm in so as the day progressed I was feeling a little bit chipper.  One of my colleagues and myself were working  in jazz technique class with one of our younger groups when the other competition team dancers came into the room and said "class is cancelled!".  There was a parents meeting going on upstairs, so I figured the meeting got out early and my boss probably didn't want to send them home and then need them to come pick up kids 45 minutes later.  The first  thought that came into my head was "Sweet! I get to go home to my Seanathan early today!"

One of my little students Emma came up to me with a corsage and everyone screamed "Happy baby shower!"  Upstairs in our other studio the parents and the staff had arranged a surprise baby shower.  Considering the week I had leading up to this, and that my hormones are crazy from being nine months pregnant, and I don't sleep much anymore, I cried.  What an overwhelming and humbling experience!  We received so many gifts!  I was so surprised, and full of gratitude.  I didn't even think to get pictures accept one once the shower was over of some of the presents on the table. I'm hoping some  parents took some that I might be able to snag.  It was a special day and it completely made up for the week proceeding it.  I hate opening presents in front of people, but opening these gifts in front of all of my dancers was actually really really fun.Their reactions were so genuine whenever I pulled an adorable outfit out of a gift bag.  My love for this particular group of people grew so much from this act of kindness.  It will be something that I always hold near to my heart. 

This particular Saturday was a day where we just hung out with our dance family.   Later that night we all went to Shady Acres in Council Bluffs for a team hay rack ride and bonfire.   Sean and I have never heard of a hay rack ride until this event, and because it was so new to us we thought it was the coolest thing.  I kind of feel nerdy saying that because to all these Nebraskans it seemed totally normal.  A tractor pulls a rack full of hay through the woods with a bunch of people sitting on it.  

There are several other racks going at the same time yours is, and as you pass each other in the woods, you throw hay on one another.  It seems simple and silly, but goodness we had so much fun! It was nice to participate in a fall activity as well. Sean and I have not participated in many fall activities this year.  We've been going to pumpkin patches for a really long time and I just haven't been in the mood to go trekking out in the middle of a field. This was really wonderful just getting to sit and enjoy the beautiful scenery, the sun setting through the trees, and the company of some great people.  Following the hay rack ride we had hot-dogs and s'mores around a bonfire.  We are still getting hay out of various pieces of clothing and our coats still smell like smoke.  We had a really great time! 

 P.S Nursery photographs coming soon!  We are so excited with the outcome!  

35 Weeks

It's getting a little surreal!  I finally had my first positive sweet dream about my baby.  I was so jealous of  Sean who has had a few about her where he would say that she was beautiful.  All of the dreams I've had up to this point have been related to going into labor in public, delivering her someplace that isn't the hospital, or that I delivered a boy instead of a girl, who I would have absolutely no clothes for.  I've been a little desperate for a "sweet" dream.  It was nice to have a  dream about her where she was just sleeping and I could envision what she would look like, several people have told me that they think she is going to look like me and have my coloring, in my dream she looked just like Sean.  

I get the "Are you Ready?" question practically every day.  We are pretty stinkin close.  I had a really disappointing moment last month when our childbirth educator totally bailed on us.  Our schedules are so different that there was just no way we could attend a regular six week class, or even a six hour Saturday class. I looked for a private instructor who stated she offered private classes (for a hefty price).  I sought her out, made arrangements with her, and was feeling better about the whole attending a class thing. She then had a family emergency which I am totally sympathetic about, but instead of rescheduling later this month, she basically cancelled and said to find someone else.  That was a horrible little period for me, I am the type of person that NEEDS a class.  I have to feel prepared.  After a few tears and a lot of stress, I decided to continue searching for options.  Through the Air Force Base there is the New Parent Support Program that has several books you can check out and DVDs.

  At this point I've watched 3 baby related DVDs. One that was really really long about childbirth, one about breastfeeding, and one about newborn care.  I've got a few more to go, another childbirth class DVD and a baby care related video.  These videos have been a huge comfort to me!  I even had a friend of mine tell me that at one childbirth class she paid for, they basically had the attendees watch a video.  In that aspect I'm feeling more ready, and not so stressed out about my baby's arrival.  As I watch these videos however, they are very helpful in letting you know what you don't have a need to get.  Like cotton balls.  I have every sort of soap and lotion, but didn't realize how much cotton balls are a part of newborn care.  This is not a big deal, they are not even expensive, I just had no clue.  We have everything ordered for her nursery that we still need, most of those items should be here soon!  I can't wait to get some pictures of it up here, I get questions about it all the time from family and really want to show a finished nursery.   

Sean and I have really been wanting to spend some of this last month having some fun.  September was rough, I was sick practically the whole month, and wanted to have everything ready by October so we weren't cramming the last few weeks before she got here, so we were spending a lot of time in department stores.  This past weekend we had maternity photos taken.  It was so much fun, and I can't wait to see the finished products!  Before I was pregnant, the idea of maternity photos was silly.  I am so glad we decided to take some, these have been, hands down, the happiest months of my life, ever.  Which is something I also did not expect.  I want to remember them, my love for my husband has grown so much in the past few weeks alone.  He is seriously the greatest.  He suggested that for this past family home evening, we fill out her baby book together.  I was so thrown back by this, it's not the "guy" thing to suggest usually.  It was a really special thing to do together vs. me just doing it all by myself. 

 He has been just as willing to get ready with me as I have.  He doesn't stress about it as much, but he has been more than supportive by showing his interest.  If you look at the stack of books above there is the Be Prepared daddy's book.  It is hilarious, and Sean has been reading it since I brought it home for him.  We recently received a stroller in the mail as a present for my mom, he knows the ins and outs of that stroller already and taught me how to use it! 

Speaking of generosity and fun, I got together with some friends from college for a little baby shower they threw for me and baby girl.  It was so nice to see them again.  My friends Becca and Tayler threw the shower, they were among the first people to know I was pregnant.  It was great to catch up with people and see where everyone is headed in their lives right now.  Becca mentioned that it was crazy that we had this little secret between the three of us and now she is almost here!