Baby Shower and a Bump Picture

The amazing Cleveland 2nd branch threw me a surprise baby shower last Saturday and it was so fun! Baby showers in the branch are more like a family affair so Lance encountered his first baby shower. He participated in ALL the games and it was so funny, kind of cruel but SO funny!

Lance playing the famous candy bar diaper game!

So Nasty!

The Applesauce game.... he really almost puked multiple times!

He was a great sport and provided us with LOTS of laughs!

We were showered with SO many gifts and it was fun to see everyone from the other ward that came! 

Shelly made me this ADORABLE bag! I LOVE it!

All of our gifts from the shower! Thank you so much! This little girl is going to be one well-dressed baby and has enough bows to last her a lifetime! :)

We had a blast and it made us even more excited for our little one's arrival. A HUGE thank you to everyone who threw it and came!!

Here's some pictures before the shower of my bump. Nice and HUGE at 37 weeks 4 days, I'm ready to POP!

36 Weeks

4 weeks

or

28 days

or

672 Hours

or

40,320 Minutes

or

2,419,200 seconds

Until our little girl's expected arrival!!!

36 weeks today and I'm feeling pretty dang great! Just the normal aches and pains and not able to move around as well. However, I can still beat Lance at mini-golf so I think I'm doing pretty well!
[edit: this is Lance, no she can't, we're tied 1-1, we still need to play the tie-breaker]

Its officially my last week of work, I'll be done on Friday! 

According to my handy-dandy pregnancy app, she is now the size of a Crenshaw Melon, and because I have absolutely no idea what that is I have provided a picture below:

For some odd reason this picture makes me think of the Lion King, when Simba is held up at the beginning. 

Anyways....

We are both ecstatic and can't wait to meet her.

Lance is becoming extremely baby happy and I love seeing how excited he is. He is going to be the BEST dad! 

The doctor told us to start getting everything ready because she can come any day now. This freaked us me out so I tried convincing Lance that we needed to put the car seat in the car, we compromised for the trunk. It made me feel better and a little more prepared! 

We sure hope these 4 weeks go by fast! 

34 Weeks

34 weeks down, only 6 more to go! This is getting crazy! Only 42 more days to go till she is due. Lance and I were looking at a calendar the other day and realized she could come as early as July 3rd and be full term. I'm starting to panic a bit because I feel we are no where near ready for her!!

I'm definitely starting to tell that she is getting ready to come. The aches and pains are starting to intensify and she is getting stronger by the day, not to mention a lot larger. She loves to play in my ribs. 

Since we are down to the final 6 weeks of pregnancy we have decided we really need to start finalizing on the name we are going to give her. Lance came up with a BRILLIANT idea that we have been doing for the past couple days. Each week we pick one of the final two names and we refer to her as that and nothing else. This way we can get a feel of how it is going to be to call her that. 

This weeks name is Brooklyn. 

Next week we will call her Haylee and see how that feels. It's been so weird to actually be calling her a real name instead of baby girl, little girl, or any other nickname we have come up with. 

We can't wait to meet her! 

Most of our conversations now days are all about her. What we think she will look like, who we think she will most look like, what her personality will be like, how she will be when she grows up, what we hope she will be like, what sports she will play, etc. We are absolutely head over heels for this little girl and can't wait for her to be here! 

Goodbye to Sleep

It's official, I can no longer sleep through the entire night. I'm up at least twice a night, either running to the bathroom or so uncomfortable that I just lay there wide awake listening to Lance snore, envying him and his ability to sleep. 

It started a week ago, I thought it was a one time thing but after happening every night...it's time to tell my peaceful full nights of sleep goodbye. And with a baby arriving next month...I'm not going to have those nights return for a VERY long time. 

It was nice while it lasted. :) 

The Final 2

The final two names are decided! After 3 weeks of just staring at the the final four names we were able to come to an agreement! Lance actually told me his favorite two and they happened to be mine as well,  it was the easiest round.

The final two are.......

Brooklyn & Haylee 

We think we are going to go to the hospital with two names and see which ones fits her the best. Either name we choose, her middle name will be Marie (that's my middle name and a couple great-something grandma's). I think they both have a great ring to them: Brooklyn Marie Brown or Haylee Marie Brown. 

What do you think? 

We are officially on the down hill stretch-30 weeks down, 10 more to go! 

Highlights of the past couple weeks:

~New doctor=AMAZING!!!!

~Little girl is measuring right on track

~She is getting SO strong and I feel her almost constantly

~Lance loves watching her stretch and kick me, then guessing what body part it is. We felt her foot the other day-so little and cute!

~He gets a kick out of waking her up when she is sleeping by shaking and talking loudly or singing at my stomach. It works unfortunately.

~All 3 of us our healthy and happy! :) 

Wonderful Week!

29 weeks down, only 11 more to go! I can't believe how fast time is flying! This week has been just what I needed! Its been absolutely gorgeous outside and let's be honest, sunshine will make anyone feel happy!

I was able to go out with the girls last saturday for a much needed lunch date and shopping. It was the best day ever! Great friends, great laughs, great news... it was wonderful!

Tonight Amy and I are throwing our very first baby shower for our friend Lindsey at my place. It'll be really fun to get all the girls together and celebrate Lindsey's little boy! Its crazy how many babies are on their way!

We finally got to go to our new doctor yesterday, I am SO thankful we decided to switch doctors. She is absolutely amazing! She let me know that I am in control and that I will be able to make all final decisions regarding how I want my labor and delivery to go. It is so nice to know that I have the support from my doctor. I trust that she isn't going to do anything without consulting me first and giving me options. I finally got to ask any and all questions I had and it was seriously a huge relief. I am actually excited now and not terrified like I was. She fully supports me in wanting a pain-free delivery.

I love having control over things, I'm a little bit of a control freak.

Saturday we are finally making a trip down to the temple. I took for granted living only 10 min away from the one in Logan. It is hard to make regular trips when it is about 2 hours away.  Lance and I haven't been to the temple since October when we were visiting Palmyra. We really need to go more.

I got a new calling at church a few weeks ago and am absolutely thrilled. I got called to serve as the  First Counselor of the Relief Society. I am so excited to take on this new role and to get to know the ladies in the branch better. I know its going to be a lot of work especially with the language barrier but it'll be worth it!  I'm still going to be the Primary Chorister as well. Singing time will just be the very first thing after sacrament so I have time to get up for Relief Society. It is so fun to teach the kids new songs. They haven't ever had a chorister in the branch so we are learning very basic songs that almost all primary kids know. They absolutely love it. It has been a learning experience for me as well, since most of their parents only speak Spanish to them at home we have been learning some songs in English and some in Spanish. It has been a challenge for me but so fun learning some of my favorite songs in Spanish. This week we are singing in sacrament and I'm nervous but excited!

Sunday will be finished off with a BBQ at our place and will hopefully be the icing on the cake of a great week!

I love Springtime.

P.S Final two names have been chosen, I'll post the updated bracket soon!

In Need Of A Little Rant

*warning: this post contains a lot of whining and complaining

In Lance's words I've been a "champ" going through this pregnancy. I haven't complained too much, I've managed to keep hormones in check, and I've had a pretty awesome attitude going through all this.
However today is the first day I just want to whine and complain. I REALLY just want to be done.

I am beyond exhausted.  This past week my extreme tiredness has returned. I can sleep for 12+ hours a night and not be able to function the next day.  During the first trimester I was hit with this extreme exhaustion but was able to sleep just fine. Now, with a belly that is getting bigger and a little girl who is extremely active I am having a hard time getting a good nights sleep. The charley horses are in full force and I wake up at least 5 times a night trying my hardest to make them stop. I am in a constant fight with the covers trying to stay comfortable, it seems I've lost the ability to regulate my body temperature. Headaches have started to become a regular occurrence, and I can no longer just drink water without an awful bout of heartburn, Tums have become my new favorite thing.

This lack of sleep is really straining on the ability to keep my emotions in check. I've found that I've become more annoyed at the littlest things. People's lack of manners are really getting to me!

A friend posted on her blog a while ago about how people think it is appropriate to say whatever they want to a pregnant woman. I too am wanting to know the answer to why they think this way.  Lately I have fallen victim to some pretty interesting and some rude comments by people who simply do not know what manners are. I just wish everyone followed this basic rule: Think before you open your mouth! If you wouldn't say such things to your mother, your sister or a significant other in fear of it offending them or hurting them, you should probably not say it to a complete stranger or someone you hardly know.

Also, another small rant on manners. When chewing gum in a public setting, do not chomp with your mouth wide open, do not snap it every time you chew, and if you must show off your ability to blow a bubble do so extremely sparingly. This also goes when eating, there is no reason why you should be making that much noise when eating. If this is a way to express how delicious your food is, please do so once you have swallowed your food and verbally express your satisfaction after.

This is going to be one LONG third trimester.

Luckily, I only have to deal with this for another 83 days and the reward will be completely worth it!

Hopefully this weekend will help relieve some of the stress and help me relax a bit. I'm in desperate need of date night with the husband and a lunch date with the girls. This weekend can't get here soon enough!