the final days.

i'm so, so, so blessed to have a special friend that is willing to take a million and one pictures of me.  i love that i have these to look back on and remember these final days of having this sweet little girl all to myself.  (selfish, i know)

thank you anna!

ready for a ton of pictures?

(the dress i'm wearing was my momma's back in the day. and i should have worn a white tank instead of dark.. :))

no signs of baby yet.  i have an OB appointment in the morning.

happy weekend+tea

we're heading over to the in-laws for fajitas soon.... don't fajitas sound wonderful?

so, i've loved the blog cakies for a while. ruby is so creative and i love seeing what she's come up with. her girls are always dressed the best. today there is a feature on the tea collection. adorable, right? my sweet mom ordered an adorable little dress for Ellie. and i saw they have a special referral.

basically:  if you spend $50 or more you'll get $25 off at your check-out.

and i'll get $25 added to my account.

i think you should check out their clothes.

click here to get started. :)


oh and i hope to have an exciting weekend...
like maybe have a baby or something!

"maternity leave"

waiting.

waiting can be hard.

i know she'll be here in God's perfect timing.

but, right now it seems she might want to stay in forever.

my appointment didn't really go as i hoped.

she's still high.  not engaged. nothing.
her estimated weight via u/s (which i know can be way off):
6 lbs 11 oz.

i have hope.

and, i've been told some tricks for natural "induction".

so.. we're trying all kinds of things.

i'm going swinging soon.

my "due date" is tuesday.

how did it get it get here so soon?

but, why does it seem so far away?

i'm ready to meet you little girl... i give you permission to drop anytime now.

my mornings will be so lovely with you here. and i don't think i can wait much longer... i'm too excited.  
39 weeks...
you've made yourself quite comfortable, huh?

kitchen.

remember how a reaaaally long time ago we were doing little renovations all over our house?  well, i never shared how they turned out.  i know... i'm such a bad blogger.

i'm pretty much in love with our kitchen these days.  there are still some things to do like hang some pretty curtains, put up the doors on the rest of the cabinets (they will be a glass front) and get a new door to close off the laundry room.  i didn't "stage" these photos... which i probably should have.  but, this is how we live.  cereal boxes on the countertop and mail to be sorted through. and there's some little finger smudges on the refrigerator after some little guests were here on monday... guess i should get used to that! ;)

husband and i are both pretty minimalist.  we don't like a lot of clutter in the kitchen.

before:
for fun... this is how it looked when we did our first tour of the house.  i know what you're thinking... why would you choose to buy that house??

and after:

i'm super proud of my husband and all the hard work he put into making this kitchen bright and lovely.  and thanks to my dad for helping. and to the in-laws for texturing the walls so the paint would actually stay on.

today:

today i get to see my little girl..... via an ultrasound. ;)  my last appointment left me a little worried.  in my head and on paper, i have my birth plan.  i know things don't always happen how we want them to and really... i just want my baby to come when she's ready and safely.  (i'm pretty sure every mom wishes for that).  anyways, my last appointment:  my girl was still high and still measuring ahead. my OB seemed a little concerned...so he wants to do an ultrasound today to make sure everything is going ok.  so, please say a little prayer for me and baby girl around 11:30. :)

i've been cleaning and relaxing this week.  39 weeks.  craziness.

happiest friday ever? i think so.

(source.)

YOU GUYS!  celebration time! today was my last day at work and unless we decide we reaaaally need the money and i can't find another way to make money (i have a couple of options to fall back on if need be) i won't be going back to the job i've pretty much despised for the past three years.  once upon a time, i wanted to be a nurse.  i moved to springfield and needed a job that had decent insurance and that's when i became a nurse assistant.  i was excited at first and then time went on and i decided i did. not. like. it.  but, the insurance was good and i only had to work three days a week........ three very long 12 hour shift days (sun up to sun down in the fall and winter, depressing...right?)  i left home at 6 am and would get home after 7 pm.  so, let me tell you:  grumpy sick people giving orders all day, really sad sick people you take care of passing away, and working 12 hour shifts every other weekend and not seeing your husband and working on christmas or thanksgiving or any other holiday is kind of the pits.  do not get me wrong.... i ADMIRE every nurse and patient care assistant out there and i loved the ones i worked with, but it wasn't for me.  i didn't go on to nursing school and i'm so, so, sooo terribly glad i didn't because then i would have a ton of student loans and wouldn't even be able to think about being a stay at home momma.  i'm blessed to have a husband that wants me to be able to be home with our girl as much as possible... he even got into couponing (sshhh don't tell him i told) and i'm learning, too.  we've already been saving lots and maybe i'll share some good deals we find so you can save, too!

well, there you have it.  i rarely (if ever) even talked about my job on the blog because i like to keep things happy around here and sometimes even the thought of having to wake up and go to work made me want to cry.  and, sometimes i would come home from work crying because i was just.....tired and worn out....especially these past few months.  working as a nurse assistant and being pregnant do not mesh well.  it's been hard on my body, but probably also good for it.  i stayed active, but being on my feet all day long sometimes took a toll on me.  i was nervous i would do something to hurt Ellie.  and, at 38 weeks i was over working. so, today being my last day was a SUPER happy day for me!

this fall will be such a wonderful, beautiful season for my little family.  Ellie will be here, Michael will be DONE with school, and i'll be home.  you can bet i'll be making lots of big breakfasts every saturday.  tomorrow morning i plan on making a big ol' stack of pancakes to celebrate!  so much to look forward to!

happy weekend!

38 weeks.

i'm so ready to meet this little girl 

and i think someone else is patiently waiting for her, too. ;)

anna and i took some pictures yesterday.  i have more to share soon! i kind of slacked the past few weeks on taking regular bump photos.  i do have weekly ones on my phone, so that will have to do!  i'm still feeling pretty good.  oh, and tomorrow is my last day of working!! SUPER excited about that.  i'm ready to take in the next couple of hours, days, weeks (however long she decides to take) and relax a bit.

a very happy birthday to my dad!

happy birthday to a very special guy!

 my little Ellie is so blessed to have such a fun grandpa...

and i'm blessed to have such a great dad!

love you & happy birthday!

Ellie is also going to have so much fun with her cousins... Kadi cannot wait.

waiting.

baby update: waiting.  that's what we're doing now.  i'm pretty close to 38 weeks and we'd really like our baby girl to come sometime within the week... we know she'll come when she's ready, but my doctor seems to think it'd be best for me (since i'm on the small side and baby girl is getting bigger) to have her before i hit that 40 week point.  we've been on lots of little walks and i've been bouncing away on my exercise ball.  michael laughs and smiles every time he walks in the room.  he's so ready for her to come.  it's pretty cute.

i'm really hoping to get back into the swing of blogging regularly (you're welcome Grandpa.  can't wait to see you tomorrow!)...i'm beginning to miss it.  this summer has FLOWN by and it's been kind of nice taking a bit of a break from the blog.  i haven't even spent much time on the computer and when i do i've been wasting time on pinterest. so. many. pretty. things. we've stayed pretty low key and indoors since it's so hot.

it's a very crazy/scary/fun/wonderful/ feeling knowing when i go to sleep every night that it could the night.  the night i go into labor.  who knows... the next time i blog may be announcing the arrival of my sweet little Ellie!

photo by the lovely, anna a couple of weeks ago.

i'm still here!

goodness.  i could make a million excuses for not blogging lately, but really... the truth is i just haven't made time to do it.  we've stayed busy getting the nursery ready and i've been keeping up with the house.  we've also made time to watch movies and hang out just the two of us.  i also LOVE sleeping... but for some reason i sleep the best in the middle of the day and sleep horribly through the night.

we could meet our girl any day now.  i'm a little over 36 weeks and feeling much, much, much more prepared than last time i blogged.  her diaper bag is packed and ready to go, her car seat is in the car, all her clothes are washed and put away, and her room is pretty much done.  we have one more birthing class tomorrow night which will be all about breast-feeding and postpartum.  my goal is still no meds during labor.  i've had some mild contractions, but nothing consistent. i'm okay if she stays in a couple more weeks.  i want her out when she's ready... that doesn't mean i won't start walking more and trying some tricks in the next week or so.  mill is ready to meet her... i just know it.  anytime i can't find her i know exactly where to look now... she loves E's room.  loves it.

i'm really praying hard that it works out for me to stay home with my girl, but we just found out how much it will cost to be added on to michael's work insurance. OUCH.  what do you ladies do for insurance that stay home?  i want to SO badly.