Ready for Baby?

I hit 35 weeks yesterday! And are we ready for the baby? Yes, and no...

PE and I are a pretty laid back couple. We have a TON of friends also expecting little ones, and most of them already have their nurseries set up, names picked out, etc. (And many are due months after us!!!) If you come to our apartment and want to see the nursery, we will show you our 2nd bedroom which looks nothing at all like a nursery. There's not even a crib in there yet! And do we have a name picked out? Or at least a small list of names we both like? Nope!

Well, good news is that I finally bought a crib! It will get here sometime in the next 2 weeks. Setting up a crib at week 37 isn't cutting it too close is it?  :)  We're actually not planning on using the crib at first, so it really doesn't matter.

So I think at first glance it doesn't seem like we are prepared at all. I know that we won't have the cutest nursery, but it will be functional. I know that eventually (probably at the hospital) we will finally pick a good name for our baby. Although PE thinks we should just wait until they are old enough to pick a name for themselves...

But I think we are ready in the ways that really matter. I think we have a strong, healthy marriage. I'm glad that we have had the past 4 years to build and strengthen our relationship, and I know that it is the right time for us to add children to our family.

We have no illusions that raising children will be easy. But we are ready for it. I like to say that we are ready to experience the rude awakening of parenthood.

And I hope I don't make it sound like we are dreading it, because we're not. We are really excited for this baby. I'm excited to be a mom, and to see PE be a dad. We just don't have any false illusions of how easy or perfect everything will be. It'll be hard and challenging, but PE and I are always up for a good challenge!

Tut, Tut, Looks Like Rain!

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law threw me a "Winnie the Pooh" baby shower on Saturday.

The food all had "Winnie the Pooh" tie-ins. I think the funniest one was that they called the ham "Piglet."

Sister-in-law and Mother-in-law

My roommate from college was able to come!

Beautiful quilt made by my grandma, the picture doesn't do it justice!

4 Generations! But is the 4th one also a girl???

My mom's side of the family

My dad's side of the family

My side of the family likes to take lots of pictures. PE's side of the family was also there, I promise!

Adorable Mickey Mouse quilt made by my college roommate!

Carseat from my mom, and cover from my Aunt. I feel like there should be a baby in there!!!

This baby is already quite spoiled! We received so much from family, thank you!!! 

A Growing Family...

Meet the 2 newest additions to our family!

Aren't they adorable?

They are super sweet, soft, friendly, curious, and of course adorable! Now if only they didn't poop so much...

Baby #1

We are excited to welcome Baby #1 into our family in October! We found out we were expecting exactly 4 years from the day PE proposed. In March, I went to my first doctor's appointment and I was able to see our baby for the first time. You can't tell much from the picture, but it was neat to see the little heart beating. Based on this ultrasound, my due date was set as October 16.

Baby at Week 9

In March, I also started experiencing the joys of "morning" sickness. About the time I started feeling sick I had to go to a national biological engineering conference in Indianapolis to present my research. The first time I threw up was actually in Indianapolis (fortunately it happened while I was in my hotel room and not while presenting my research). From about week 8 to week 15, I was pretty sick. PE was a saint and took good care of me. There were many days he would come home from a long day at work and find me lying on the couch, too sick to even think about dinner. So he would find or make something for dinner without any help from me. Towards the end of week 15 I started to feel a lot better. I still have some bad days, but it is more manageable now than it was during the first trimester.

PE and I decided that we would wait until people asked if I was pregnant before we told them (with the exception of a few people). My family finally guessed on Mother's Day that we were expecting. The thing that gave us away was the gigantic bruise I had on my arm from where the nurse took a blood sample for the 16 week screening tests. And Mother's Day was during week 18. It actually took 3 weeks for the bruise to disappear. We also told PE's family on Mother's Day since we didn't think it would be fair for one family to know way before the other family.

Yesterday we had our big ultrasound! It was fun to see how much development has occurred since the last ultrasound. We are going to have the gender be a surprise. I actually almost forgot to tell the ultrasound specialist that we didn't want to find out the gender. Good thing that the first thing that showed up on the ultrasound was the baby's face! The measurements from this ultrasound actually showed that I am 4 days further along, so the due date has been moved up to October 12.

Baby's Profile at Week 21

Baby's Foot at Week 21

So far, I would not consider pregnancy a "fun" experience. But we are very grateful and excited to welcome this little baby into our family in a few months!

Tulip Festival

On Friday, PE had the day off work, so we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was nice to get out of the house and see the beautiful gardens!

General Conference

I'm a few weeks late in posting this, but I really enjoyed this session of General Conference. I especially loved the talks about family. I loved Elder Ballard's prophetic counsel that the strength of our society is a result of the strength of our families. If we really want to fix our societal problems, we need to first focus on fixing families. This year being an election year, there is of course a lot of  debate over the problems in America and who is the right president to fix them. But really, I believe that the power to "fix" our country is in the hands of mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and children everywhere in America.

Thought for the Day

I read an article on KSL today that made me remember this talk from General Conference. I couldn't remember when it was, or who the speaker had been, but I had remembered the message. I did some searching on LDS.org and found the paragraph I had remembered.

"Yet sorrowfully, on occasion, some are willing to set aside the precious gospel truths restored by Joseph Smith because they get diverted on some historical issue or some scientific hypothesis not central to their exaltation, and in so doing they trade their spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. They exchange the absolute certainty of the Restoration for a doubt, and in that process they fall into the trap of losing faith in the many things they do know because of a few things they do not know. There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite, but likewise there will always be the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration to cling to, which will provide the rock foundation upon which our testimonies may be built."

-Elder Tad Callister, Oct. 2009 General Conference

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because of the truths that I know, because of the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration. I know that God lives, and the He is my Father. I know that Jesus Christ lives and is my Savior. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles are true prophets of God. I know that true happiness comes from obeying the commandments of God. But I also recognize that I do not know or understand everything. But I can't sacrifice the great truths that I do know for doubt about something that is not central to my exaltation.


My Grandma shared this scripture years ago at the funeral of my great-grandma, and I still remember it vividly. 

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

-Mosiah 4:9

We have to believe that God comprehends more than we do. We have to believe that we can't and won't understand everything in this life. But there are things we can understand and know in this life, and the rest is where faith comes in. Heavenly Father sees the big picture, and while I can't see all of it, I can see enough to know who He is which makes me willing to place my hand in His and let Him lead me.