The early rising was so, so worth it and we were able to get the most glorious light.
Here are a few of our favorites.
I am so grateful to have a talented friend we could call on to help us document this time in our lives so beautifully.
TEAM McLEOD
9.16.2012
35 weeks
Yesterday Collin and I woke up before dawn so that we could venture out to one of our favorite spots outside town for maternity photos with our good friend Chris.
The early rising was so, so worth it and we were able to get the most glorious light.
Here are a few of our favorites.
The early rising was so, so worth it and we were able to get the most glorious light.
Here are a few of our favorites.
8.30.2012
30 weeks
That means 10 weeks to go!
Or... more like 8-12.
I can't stress enough how much I am not exaggerating when I say that it feels like just the other day I was only 10 weeks pregnant and thinking to myself, 'I have so much time left...' and Collin was seeing her on an ultrasound for the first time, looking like a gummybear, waving at us with little tiny flipper hands. I was just really starting to tell our family and friends and everything was finally sinking in.
Now it feels like time is on fastforward. Especially because I now see my midwife every two weeks!
This little girl is supposedly about 3 lbs now and as big as a head of cabbage which seems HUGE to me. I'm hoping she's only about 3 lbs (I am measuring right on target for 30 weeks) because I found out not long ago that I was 9 lb 7 oz when I was born. Good God my poor mother. I hope I am spared that same fate.
It was really funny when at the baby shower this last weekend we were passing around gifts and Erin commented on the tiny baby hats saying, 'can you believe their head is ever that little?' and all I could say was 'It better be that small!'.
Speaking of which, that baby shower was incredible. And to see my ladies, Anna and Ashley, and your moms and Sonja, and Piper was just awesome. It made me miss the two who couldn't be there, Rachel and Kara, even more but to have some of my own people there at the party made it that much more special to me. Sometimes it feels like my family/friends can get a little steamrolled by Collin's gigantic clan but not this weekend with all of you there.
Somehow we managed to fit the mountain of gifts (that was taller than Collin's sister Meggan - no really it was) into our car and add more to it with a stop at Ikea in Tampa on the way home. This weekend and the rest of September are for getting that nursery all set up and cute. We've been doing all this cleaning and sorting and moving of stuff out of the house up until this point and I can't wait to do the fun stuff like finally assemble the crib (there will be a CRIB in my HOUSE that a BABY will sleep in?!) and sew curtains from the fabric I picked out. I am excited to frame the artwork that will hang on the wall, paint something pretty, and make the mobile that she will look at when she is falling asleep. Expect some photos of the nursery progress soon - the long weekend coming up is our jumping off point and I have a big list of plans - how much we will actually get accomplished I don't know but I am dreaming big and hoping to get a lot done.
The sooner we finish the 'work' the sooner we get to just hang out with each other and enjoy these last weeks of being a family of two... plus the four-legged babies. We have plans to spend most of October just taking it easy, going on dates, and doing whatever we want.
Oh and Go Gators! Football season starts this Saturday and I'm excited for this little girl to go to her first game haha!
Or... more like 8-12.
I can't stress enough how much I am not exaggerating when I say that it feels like just the other day I was only 10 weeks pregnant and thinking to myself, 'I have so much time left...' and Collin was seeing her on an ultrasound for the first time, looking like a gummybear, waving at us with little tiny flipper hands. I was just really starting to tell our family and friends and everything was finally sinking in.
Now it feels like time is on fastforward. Especially because I now see my midwife every two weeks!
This little girl is supposedly about 3 lbs now and as big as a head of cabbage which seems HUGE to me. I'm hoping she's only about 3 lbs (I am measuring right on target for 30 weeks) because I found out not long ago that I was 9 lb 7 oz when I was born. Good God my poor mother. I hope I am spared that same fate.
It was really funny when at the baby shower this last weekend we were passing around gifts and Erin commented on the tiny baby hats saying, 'can you believe their head is ever that little?' and all I could say was 'It better be that small!'.
Speaking of which, that baby shower was incredible. And to see my ladies, Anna and Ashley, and your moms and Sonja, and Piper was just awesome. It made me miss the two who couldn't be there, Rachel and Kara, even more but to have some of my own people there at the party made it that much more special to me. Sometimes it feels like my family/friends can get a little steamrolled by Collin's gigantic clan but not this weekend with all of you there.
Somehow we managed to fit the mountain of gifts (that was taller than Collin's sister Meggan - no really it was) into our car and add more to it with a stop at Ikea in Tampa on the way home. This weekend and the rest of September are for getting that nursery all set up and cute. We've been doing all this cleaning and sorting and moving of stuff out of the house up until this point and I can't wait to do the fun stuff like finally assemble the crib (there will be a CRIB in my HOUSE that a BABY will sleep in?!) and sew curtains from the fabric I picked out. I am excited to frame the artwork that will hang on the wall, paint something pretty, and make the mobile that she will look at when she is falling asleep. Expect some photos of the nursery progress soon - the long weekend coming up is our jumping off point and I have a big list of plans - how much we will actually get accomplished I don't know but I am dreaming big and hoping to get a lot done.
The sooner we finish the 'work' the sooner we get to just hang out with each other and enjoy these last weeks of being a family of two... plus the four-legged babies. We have plans to spend most of October just taking it easy, going on dates, and doing whatever we want.
Oh and Go Gators! Football season starts this Saturday and I'm excited for this little girl to go to her first game haha!
7.11.2012
23 Weeks
I have stopped being able to take photos outside thanks to the swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes who have descended on my yard. It's dissapointing mostly because there is nothing but terrible lighting in my house and no where to take (what I think) are even half way decent photos.
I am still going to take them though. Even if I don't like them as much as I think I would if I were outside like the first few.
So yes, 23 week belly.
Physically, I'm still feeling pretty good even though a lot of the time I already feel huge and I know I will get SO MUCH BIGGER. I've noticed that I walk a little differently now and basic tasks have to be done differently too. Things like bending over to pick something off the floor, getting up off the couch, rolling over at night in bed, carrying things... you know, living in general :)
I bought a watermelon at the grocery store for the 4th of July and couldn't help but feel like I looked hillarious! I literally laughed at myself there in the produce section trying to pick up this giant fruit and get it in my cart. All I could think was that it felt like the same size as my now very round middle.
Sleeping has become my biggest challenge right now and it's only because I can't ever seem to get comfortable. I have stolen all but one pillow on our bed for my propping-up purposes and usually need one wedged behind my back, a second partly between my knees and partly under my belly for support, and a third and fourth behind my head.
I am the pillow queen.
(it still doesn't keep me from waking up with a little bit of a sore back and sides depending on which way I have been sleeping)
Emotionally, I am also pretty level. I feel like there is so much to do to prepare but that we still have a lot of time, even though that time will go by just as fast as these first months have. I signed us up for birthing classes, a newborn care class, a breastfeeding class, and a carseat safety class. The childbirth classes start on Collin's birthday (sorries to him) and I think it all will start to get a lot more real at that point. In a good way.
I also have done NOTHING for a nursery and that room is still full of my craft junk and Collin's music gear. We need to rent a storage space and I'm trying to reach this balance between getting it early enough to have time to move things out and get the space ready but not so early that we're paying that money for months we don't need to be. My goal for this is to have stuff cleared out and a clean, mostly empty room for after the shower at the end of August when we will most certainly be bringing in a tidal wave of baby-stuff.
I am also fully ready for myself to have at least one large-scale freak out session where I feel completely unprepared to bring a whole LIFE into this world.
That's how I find most things to go lately. Trying to balance. With timing (like the nursery prep), health (like staying active and doing my workout DVD's but being aware that my body is generally always sore somewhere), and making decisions on baby gear. I have literally gone back-and-forth between two carseats for MONTHS now. Months. Do we go with the lighter weight, lighter color, less expensive model that only seats a kid up to 22 lbs and has straps you need to adjust from the back which is potentially annoying? Or do we go with the (very slightly) heavier, darker color (may be hotter in FL), more expensive model that seats a kid up to 30 lbs and has front-adjust straps?? I get into this spiral of product reviews and message board advice on whether the strap adjustment matters that much, and then I think about the color and whether it makes that much of a difference because, hey, Florida is just freaking hot no matter what you do. Now that baby shower invitations will be going out this week I feel even more of a necessity to just decide these things and stop waffling back and forth between two choices. Thankfully Collin humors me and talks through these things with the pro's and con's because he'll use all this gear as much as I will but I can't help but think he (and his go-with-the-flow personality) honestly assumes either one will be as good as the other, and that it really doesn't matter all that much. Just pick one, and move on to the next thing we need to think about.
So we went with the front-adjust straps.
I am still going to take them though. Even if I don't like them as much as I think I would if I were outside like the first few.
So yes, 23 week belly.
Physically, I'm still feeling pretty good even though a lot of the time I already feel huge and I know I will get SO MUCH BIGGER. I've noticed that I walk a little differently now and basic tasks have to be done differently too. Things like bending over to pick something off the floor, getting up off the couch, rolling over at night in bed, carrying things... you know, living in general :)
I bought a watermelon at the grocery store for the 4th of July and couldn't help but feel like I looked hillarious! I literally laughed at myself there in the produce section trying to pick up this giant fruit and get it in my cart. All I could think was that it felt like the same size as my now very round middle.
Sleeping has become my biggest challenge right now and it's only because I can't ever seem to get comfortable. I have stolen all but one pillow on our bed for my propping-up purposes and usually need one wedged behind my back, a second partly between my knees and partly under my belly for support, and a third and fourth behind my head.
I am the pillow queen.
(it still doesn't keep me from waking up with a little bit of a sore back and sides depending on which way I have been sleeping)
Emotionally, I am also pretty level. I feel like there is so much to do to prepare but that we still have a lot of time, even though that time will go by just as fast as these first months have. I signed us up for birthing classes, a newborn care class, a breastfeeding class, and a carseat safety class. The childbirth classes start on Collin's birthday (sorries to him) and I think it all will start to get a lot more real at that point. In a good way.
I also have done NOTHING for a nursery and that room is still full of my craft junk and Collin's music gear. We need to rent a storage space and I'm trying to reach this balance between getting it early enough to have time to move things out and get the space ready but not so early that we're paying that money for months we don't need to be. My goal for this is to have stuff cleared out and a clean, mostly empty room for after the shower at the end of August when we will most certainly be bringing in a tidal wave of baby-stuff.
I am also fully ready for myself to have at least one large-scale freak out session where I feel completely unprepared to bring a whole LIFE into this world.
That's how I find most things to go lately. Trying to balance. With timing (like the nursery prep), health (like staying active and doing my workout DVD's but being aware that my body is generally always sore somewhere), and making decisions on baby gear. I have literally gone back-and-forth between two carseats for MONTHS now. Months. Do we go with the lighter weight, lighter color, less expensive model that only seats a kid up to 22 lbs and has straps you need to adjust from the back which is potentially annoying? Or do we go with the (very slightly) heavier, darker color (may be hotter in FL), more expensive model that seats a kid up to 30 lbs and has front-adjust straps?? I get into this spiral of product reviews and message board advice on whether the strap adjustment matters that much, and then I think about the color and whether it makes that much of a difference because, hey, Florida is just freaking hot no matter what you do. Now that baby shower invitations will be going out this week I feel even more of a necessity to just decide these things and stop waffling back and forth between two choices. Thankfully Collin humors me and talks through these things with the pro's and con's because he'll use all this gear as much as I will but I can't help but think he (and his go-with-the-flow personality) honestly assumes either one will be as good as the other, and that it really doesn't matter all that much. Just pick one, and move on to the next thing we need to think about.
So we went with the front-adjust straps.
7.02.2012
baby girl
Finally was able to get a few moments at work to scan some of the stills from our 20 week ultrasound!
This little lady is starting to look pretty cute!
It is seriously so amazing what ultrasounds can see. Every bit of her measured on target and Collin and I were able to watch them look at each chamber of her heart, the length of her bones (little arms and legs and even each toe while she crossed her legs at the ankles - just chillin'), and even her facial features. It was incredible. We were given a DVD of the session but it's playable, not a file so I don't know how to upload it here... not like my last try worked anyway.
At the gender peek we did we also got a DVD, this time of files so if I can work it out on my mac I'm going to make a movie and I'll upload that one. I don't think the images are as good, but it's her in there wiggling around so I love them.
This little lady is starting to look pretty cute!
At the gender peek we did we also got a DVD, this time of files so if I can work it out on my mac I'm going to make a movie and I'll upload that one. I don't think the images are as good, but it's her in there wiggling around so I love them.
6.11.2012
19 weeks
And officially, it's a
We were blown away! I kept asking the ultrasound tech "Are you sure? You're sure, right?" and repeating "I can't believe it. This is crazy!".
So count me in as being one of the many women for whom every single old-wives-tales about gender prediction were flat out wrong. I think though because everyone else is guessing boy, they'll be even more surprised that this little squibee (our nickname we've been using) is, in fact, a she.
So the suspense is over. It is going to be SO HARD to keep this in until Father's Day. Especially considering we're about to spend 5 days 24/7 with Collin's parents before we plan to surprise them. Refraining from pronouns now that we have one to use is going to be the biggest challenge.
We brainstormed about names all weekend, found a few that we both love and will probably keep thinking about them obsessively until she arrives.
GIRL!
We were blown away! I kept asking the ultrasound tech "Are you sure? You're sure, right?" and repeating "I can't believe it. This is crazy!".
So count me in as being one of the many women for whom every single old-wives-tales about gender prediction were flat out wrong. I think though because everyone else is guessing boy, they'll be even more surprised that this little squibee (our nickname we've been using) is, in fact, a she.
So the suspense is over. It is going to be SO HARD to keep this in until Father's Day. Especially considering we're about to spend 5 days 24/7 with Collin's parents before we plan to surprise them. Refraining from pronouns now that we have one to use is going to be the biggest challenge.
We brainstormed about names all weekend, found a few that we both love and will probably keep thinking about them obsessively until she arrives.
Our official anatomy scan still isn't until the morning of the 21st so I'll be back that day with some ultrasound photos (maybe a video? we get a DVD to take home!) and a full 100% confirmation on the fact that this really is a little girl, something I am still wrapping my head around... and something that is now slightly more terrifying for Collin :)
6.04.2012
18 Weeks
Went to SRQ for the weekend to attend a PV graduation (SO LONG - you know Rae), the graduation party the day before, and fun family stuff like manicure/pedicures with Meggan and Erin, lunch with the girls and Granny Carol, and a sunset view on Siesta Key. The wind was blowing and of course every photo was blurry but here I am at 18 weeks.
I don't feel as big as I look in this picture... I think it was partly the dress and partly the wind! Either way, everyone had a lot of fun guessing what this baby might be at the party. Somehow we only have two votes for girl?! Seems like everyone thinks that it will be (or wants it to be) a boy. We shall see! My appointment is set for 6/21 so we'll know soon enough!
Feeling good lately - I have started sleeping with so many pillows to keep the aches away. And my feet get sore (and just a little swollen, I think only I can tell) when I stand around for too long like I did at the party mingling with everyone. Dressing myself is becoming a challenge. I'm still rocking the same pants with my hair-tie button closure and belly bands to hide it all but I broke down and ordered a couple shirts, skirts, and a pair of shorts online today. It's getting hot out and jeans just will not be an option too much longer here in 95 degree weather.
I'm really looking forward to a summer vacation over in Scotland where it will be COLD!
I don't feel as big as I look in this picture... I think it was partly the dress and partly the wind! Either way, everyone had a lot of fun guessing what this baby might be at the party. Somehow we only have two votes for girl?! Seems like everyone thinks that it will be (or wants it to be) a boy. We shall see! My appointment is set for 6/21 so we'll know soon enough!
Feeling good lately - I have started sleeping with so many pillows to keep the aches away. And my feet get sore (and just a little swollen, I think only I can tell) when I stand around for too long like I did at the party mingling with everyone. Dressing myself is becoming a challenge. I'm still rocking the same pants with my hair-tie button closure and belly bands to hide it all but I broke down and ordered a couple shirts, skirts, and a pair of shorts online today. It's getting hot out and jeans just will not be an option too much longer here in 95 degree weather.
I'm really looking forward to a summer vacation over in Scotland where it will be COLD!
5.17.2012
14 weeks
And it starts, the bump looks a little less like it's full of burritos and more like there's a baby in there!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)