Heading into the 9th month

5 more weeks until little Ashlyn Jane arrives.

This picture was taken at 33 weeks




I am starting to get a little panicky because there is so much I have to do before she gets here. Her nursery looks great so far but I still have to finish reupholstering the glider, find and hang art, and sew window treatments. Still have to do a hospital tour, find a pediatrician, pack my hospital bag, get a haircut (just a trim), finish my baby shower thank yous, and get a few more items for the baby. Whew! Nesting is kicking in.



Here are some things I am looking forward to (in no particular order):



1. Finally seeing this little girl who has been hanging out in my belly. This has been the longest 8 months of my life! Can't wait to hold her, squeeze her, give her kisses, and dress her up in all her cute new clothes. She is going to be my little sidekick.



2. Not being pregnant! Pregnancy has been one of those "endure 'till the end" things for me.



3. Fitting into my regular clothes again. It will probably take some time but just knowing that my body will be shrinking instead of expanding is pretty exciting for me.



4. Wearing my wedding ring! Oh how I miss my yellow gold ring. Mike got me another wedding band for our 2nd anniversary last April, and I wasn't able to really enjoy it because my fingers were vienna sausages by August. Can't wait to put on my bling again.



5. Being able to work out like I used to. Since I have been pregnant I have kept my workouts pretty moderate. Walking, elliptical, and pilates are pretty much all I've done for the past 8 months so it will be nice to switch it up and kick into high gear.



6. Whitening my teeth. My OB said teeth whitening is one of those better-safe-than-sorry things during pregancy, so I have obstained from doing it. Hence, my teeth are looking a less than sparkling- to put it lightly.



7. Seeing Mike as a dad. There is something so sweet and tender about a dad holding his baby girl. She is going to have him wrapped around her little finger for sure.



8. Not having to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes (or less).



9. Getting my jawline back. The pregnancy glow is in full affect in my face. Not so cute. Ha!



10. Being a mom. I have no idea what it is going to be like but I am sooooo excited for it.

Mike and I were over at his parents house for Sunday dinner and his mom pulled out a journal she kept of his early years. We laughed so hard when we saw this little gem. Mike was about ten when he wrote it. (Sorry the picture quality is so bad. I took it with my phone.)

Answers to my last post: 1. Mike Deacon, 2. Greg McCabe, 3. Vickie Deacon 4. Catherine McCabe, 5. Mike McCabe, 6. Me.

GuEsS WhO????

It must be the crazy pregnancy hormones because when I saw this I totally cried. Seeing Mike's parents, my parents, and our baby pictures together just got me all choked up! How cute is this idea? Lisa Theis, my friend who hosted the baby shower, collected these relic photos and had everyone at the shower guess who is who.

Can you identify these cute baby faces? Take a shot at it.

I will post answers next week.

Baby shower pictures below...

Showering baby McCabe!

I am pretty excited about all the girlie stuff we got for our little one. Let's just say she will be wearing lots of pink (of course!), apple green, black, leopard print, bows, flowers, and tutus! My friend Lisa and my mother-in-law Catherine threw me a fabulous shower. It was so good to have so many of my good friends and family in the same room. Needless to say they spoiled me.

Here are some pictures of the shower.

Heather and my mom

Opening gifts

Heather, Bev Edmonds, Mom, Me, Catherine

Thanks for the wonderful shower. I sure feel loved!

Juno

We had the "prop" so we figured we would put it to good use.

Cravings

"Have you been craving anything throughout your pregnancy?" A question that most pregnant girls are used to answering. In the beginning it was bean burritos from Taco Bell. Then one time a raw onion snuck its way into my burrito and that was it. I can't stand the thought of eating one! I didn't notice I was craving anything else until I realized that everyday I eat one of these items.

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;">Honeycrisp Apples. Have you had one of these? They are the best apple I have ever tasted. The perfect combination of sweet/tart/crunchiness. They are only available during the fall so I have made sure to get my fill before they are gone. It will be a sad day when I can no longer find them in the produce section.

I usually put applesauce in my morning oatmeal or just grab some spoonfuls out of the jar when I need a sweet treat.

Since it has FINALLY cooled down in Denver I have enjoyed sipping on cider in the evening to warm me up. I usually am really sad when summer is over, but since being pregnant is like having a built in heater I am loving the cool weather. Love fall!

One last thing...

I am officially into the third tri of my pregnancy! Lots to get done and to prepare for. I am trying to talk Mike into taking a birthing class with me but he doesn't want to. Have any of you taken a birthing class and did you find it beneficial? Let me know because I need to make a decision soon.

Gettin' my Craft on

Super Saturday. Never thought I would look forward to it so much. Last weekend I went to Super Saturday in Mike's family ward and LOVED it! The crafts in his family ward are 10 times better than the cheesy crap we made in the married student wards. I feel bad saying that because our RS had to cater to poor married college students....but seriously. The crafts they come up with in family wards are delux AND inexpensive. Here is what I made....

This craft can be enjoyed for two holidays! Pretty cool huh?

These pillows are made of a burlap type fabric. Way easy to make. I traced the patterns on to paper, cut the pattern out with an exacto knife, ironed the paper onto fabric, then used a sponge and craft paint to stencil the pattern. I can't remember what kind of paper we used but one side of the paper sticks to the fabric when you iron it on. You can print graphics off on your computer onto the paper if you want. It's way cool.

Have you been in Restoration Hardware lately? OK, first of all I love everything in that store, and pretty much the entire store is fashioned in burlap fabric right now. I mean unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for their decorative pillows go right ahead, but you can totally make your own imitations. Just sayin.

Welcome to the world

Haven Claire Wiley!

Sarah, Mike's sister, had her baby girl at 2:07pm on Oct. 7, 2010. She weighed in at 4 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 17 1/2 inches. She came a little earlier than expected, 9 weeks to be exact, which means she will have to be in the NICU for at least a month. In this picture she is 1 hour old and the second picture was taken today. It is so incredible to be in the presence of a baby who is fresh from heaven. We love her and are so excited to be her aunt and uncle.

Congrats Austin and Sarah! We love you so much!!!!

Here is our new place.



One of my "must haves" before we even started looking at apartments was it needed to have a lot of natural light. I always hated how our last places only had like three windows on one side of the apartment. It totally felt like a cave. This place, however, has tons of windows which makes for a bright and cheery place to live.

We got a new ottoman because our last coffee table was not baby friendly. I wanted to get something that she wouldn't bonk her little head on.

We also got a new kitchen table, which I am VERY excited about. It has a leaf so it will fit our growing family. The chairs are from IKEA and the table is from a furniture store in Denver.

One of the windows I was really insistent on having was in the kitchen. The kitchen also has a glass door that leads to the deck giving it additional natural lighting.

Our little girl's room. I will post pictures of her room when we get it finished. So excited about decorating her room! It is going to have a Paris theme.....

Mike and I had some heated arguments over putting a t.v. in our bedroom. I was afraid that our pillow talk would become nonexistent, and I just thought we needed a no media zone. You know what I mean? At first he wanted to put a 42 inch in our small bedroom which literally would have taken up the entire room. I put my foot down on that one. So we compromised and got a 32 inch. Eventually we want to mount it on the wall. We will get around to it soon.

Finally a picture of my bump!

One day I woke up and was like, "WHOA! I have a big belly!" Every week it gets bigger and I can't believe I still have 15 weeks to go. I am going to be HUGE.

I can't say I love being pregnant. I mean, its has its ups and downs so all I can say is it's an experience. The past few weeks I have noticed my hands and feet are swelling up. I can't wear my wedding ring anymore, and to replace it I bought a cheapo walmart ring that has a big, fake canary diamond so people don't think I just got knocked up. Other than the swelling I am feeling pretty good. Ever since we found out we are having a girl the weeks have been flying by. Can't wait for this little girl to get here!

I have been such a terrible blogger lately! But I have valid reasons. We finally moved into our own place and we LOVE it. It has tons of windows, a large kitchen with granite counter tops, a fireplace, a deck, and is brand new. This is by far our favorite place we have ever lived. It's so nice to finally be organized after living like vagabonds for the past six months. I think we will be staying here for a few years and I am so happy about that. Since we have been married we have moved six times. Yuck! It feels so great to put some roots down in our new community.

Today I have to get my blood drawn again. Wish me luck! I will let you know how it goes in my next post.

We couldn't be more thrilled! I finally had my ultrasound at 21 weeks yesterday, and our little princess is progressing and growing just as she should. We were a little surprised when we found out because both of us thought our baby would for sure be a boy. I think it had something to do with the fact that we both grew up in families that had boys first, so it just seemed like that was in the plans for us too. Now that we know our baby is a girl it makes everything so much more real. We no longer have to say "the baby" or "it." Also, I can FINALLY start picking out fabric and decor for her nursery!

A little update on latest with us:

Currently we are living with Mike's parents. They have been so sweet to let us live with them for a few weeks. We signed a lease yesterday for our new place and move in Sept. 20th. We experienced a bit of sticker shock when searching for a home here since we were used to cheap Rexburg apartments. Oh well, you do what you got to do. We are excited to move into our own place again and get settled in. It feels great to know that we are here to stay. I am looking forward to staying in the same area for more than 4-8 months, and to get established in the community and church.

Pregnancy:

I have finally arrived at the point of my pregnancy where I am feeling great. It is so amazing to feel our little girl kicking and wiggling around in my belly everyday. The doc told me she is breech right now so I am hoping she flips around. Have any of you experienced this? He told me not to worry and that 50% of babies are breech at this point in pregnancy. I am not freaking out at this point, but if she stays put I will.

I want to post pictures of my baby bump but my cord for the camera that hooks up to the computer is packed away. Don't worry though. I will post some as soon as we get settled in our place.

Mixed emotions.

I am excited to go home to Colorado next week and see my family.

But my heart aches about leaving Mike in the east to finish out his summer job.
(By the way, it was his idea for me to go spend the last weeks of the summer in CO, not mine.)

I am cannot wait to find out if this baby is a boy or girl. Any guesses?

But we have to wait until the last week of August.

I am sooooo happy this is my last week of my summer job as the office administrator for Vision Security. What a headache it has caused me.

However, once I get back to Denver it's time to look for substitute teaching jobs for the fall. I will have to wear an over sized shirt to cover my baby bump at job interviews. ;-)

We are looking forward to settling down in Denver and raising our family.

But finding the right place to live has been stressing us out.


Overall, we have a lot of good things to look forward to, but also many unknowns. This is one of those moments in our marriage where we truly have to "go forward in faith." A good friend once told me, "You have to take a step into the darkness before the Lord shows you the light"

Guess this is what having faith is all about.

Living on the east coast definitely has its perks, especially when it comes to historical sights. Being a history major you know I am all about it! In May, when it wasn't so hot and humid, we drove to Williamsburg with some friends and spent the afternoon there. Every time I visit an historical sight I think to myself, "when I get home I am going to read up on this." Then whenever I am reading about a specific place or event I think, "I want to go there so bad!" I also feel like my so many of my history tid-bits are fading. When you're in school your mind is filled with so much information. Then somehow, at least for me, so much of it fades when you graduate. So frustrating. I need to brush up on my history again!












I thought this was rather interesting. Check out the letter "M." A little odd, don't you think?

Have you ever seen this game with the stick and circle? Mike gave it a whirl. He caught on pretty quick.

Last weekend we drove to Delaware to visit Mike's grandma in Wilmington. I love visit her because she is so sweet and takes care of me, especially since I have had morning sickness. By the way, this week I woke up one day and felt like a normal human being again! We went to the gym and I had a great workout. Such a relief! Anyway, while we were in DE we went to Pea Patch Island which was a fort used by Union soldiers during the Civil War to hold Confederate prisoners. Pretty cool huh?



If you look closely you can clearly see that I am in the "is she pregnant or just fat" stage.



Us walking around the prison corridors. Apparently this place is super haunted. I have to admit walking around the dark prison rooms made me feel weird....like someone was watching me or directly behind me. No joke.

Here is Mike waiting for me to walk around the corner so he could jump out and scare me. I caught him though. Ha!

On our drive back to Virginia I randomly saw a street sign with our last name on it. Of course we had to pull over and take a picture.




When we got home we went over to a park just across the street from us for the 4th of July fireworks show. These are our only friends here, Mark and McKelle. They sell pest control and we met them a church. We go to the beach with them just about every weekend. Not sure what's going on with my face in this picture but its the only one I took so whatever.

It's a good thing my first trimester has been in the summer so I can indulge in a wide variety of one of God's great gifts to the earth.

On the other hand there are things I absolutely can't eat right now.


1. Onions- Even mentioning the word makes my stomach turn.


2. Garlic- That lingering taste it leaves in your mouth no matter how much you brush your teeth...so disgusting.


3. The smell beef leaves in your kitchen after you cook it. It takes days to go away so I don't cook it anymore. The grill has been our best friend lately.


4. Strong perfumes or deodorizers. I used to love the scent "coconut lime" from Bath and Body Works, but I had to take out our wallflower because the smell was too strong for me. I wonder if I will ever like it again.


6. The smell my dishwasher soap puts off when the dishwasher is running. Never noticed that before! Pre pregnancy I had a very keen sense of smell, but now it's like I have the nose of a dog. I can smell EVERYTHING!


7. Being hot. The a.c. is constantly running in our place for two reasons: first, since it is so humid here if the air isn't being circulated it gets really stuffy. Second, it's been in the 90's for the past three weeks so a.c. is a means of survival. At night I set the thermostat at 72 degrees. Mike says its like living in a meat locker. I really can't imagine being in the third tri here. I would die.



OK, I promise my next post will be something other than pregnancy stuff. Haha!

Needles. I hate them!!! A couple days ago I had another Dr. appointment in which they drew my blood. No big deal right? That's the mind set I kept reminding myself before I got to the Dr.'s office. Plus, I would really like to know my blood type. I could have found out in 7th grade biology when we pricked our fingers to do blood tests, but I was too squeamish and had to leave the classroom. So I figured at 24 I had grown out of it. Wrong.

So the nurse and I were sitting in her office, and she was asking me tons of questions about my health history and answering my questions about pregnancy. When that was over she quickly changed the subject and rattled off a bunch of questions about how it went showing my family the pics of our baby. Meanwhile she was tying my arm up so she could start the blood test. (Ugh....I am getting light headed as I write this.) "This should be easy because you have really good veins" she exclaimed.

"Good to know" I said. Then I felt the needle enter my arm. I was OK for a few seconds, but then I started to feel light headed and my hearing was weird. You know the feeling. It sounds like water is running through your ears and everyone sounds far away.

"I think I am blacking out." I said as I started slumping over in my chair.

"Nan! NAN! Get in here NOW!" She yelled to the other nurse. The next thing I new I was surrounded by five nurses who were propping my feet up, calling my name, fanning me, putting a damp rag on my head, making me smell this awful stench to awaken my senses, and putting juice in my mouth. I slowly started to come back to consciousness and was aware of my surroundings again. My body felt weightless and I was out of it. I don't know how long the whole ordeal lasted but I sure got sweaty in the process.

"Did you come alone today?" The nurse asked.

"Yeah" I said. I told Mike he didn't have to come since they were just going to run a few tests and go over my medical history.

"Well we aren't going to let you go home until you are feeling 100%. In the mean time just relax. Eat these crackers and drink some juice and ginger ale."

They put me into another room with a recliner and a fan to recover. So I chilled there for about 30 minutes until I felt good enough to drive myself home.

The worst part is they weren't able to get enough blood so I have to do it again! Ugh. They said the next time they will have me lay down instead of sitting in a chair. Hopefully that works because I don't want to go through another fiasco like that again!