The Longest Shortest Time...

I've been meaning to write this for a long time now, but you know, I've been kind of busy with a baby! This has been the longest three months and the shortest three months of my life all at the same time. I want to make sure that I remember the details of these blurry first few months, starting with February 27th...

So my due date, the 27th, rolled around and I went to work like normal. By the end of the day I had decided that even though the baby wasn't here yet, I wanted to be done with work so I could rest. Let me tell you, lugging my very pregnant self around school was not the most comfortable by the last few weeks!

I went to bed like normal and woke up around 11 pm that night with contractions that I knew were real. I woke Gil up and told him I was having some contractions and he happily went back to sleep immediately. Ha!

I tried to get some sleep...because that's what everyone says you should do. Sleep now to save up your energy! Yeah right! I had to get up and move. I got up and went in our bathroom and just kept moving and swaying. Somewhere in there I started timing contractions. I must've really been in the zone because the time flew by until 1 a.m. when I felt like I should wake Gil up. By now the contractions were pretty strong to the point where I thought maybe we would be heading to the hospital.

Gil got up, showered, packed the rest of the things in our hospital bag, and called my doctor and  the birthing center. The nurse wanted to talk to me to see what state I was in and by now I had to stop talking to her to get through a contraction. They said I sounded ready to come in! My biggest fear was that we would get there and be sent home. Before we left, Gil said he needed to eat something so I stood there having contractions waiting while he ate a bowl of cereal. Hilarious to think about now because by the time we got to the hospital I was already 8 cm dilated!

I was also scared about the car ride to the hospital- that I would be extremely uncomfortable and miserable. But somehow through it all, I must've just been in the zone and stayed pretty calm and comfortable.

When we got to the hospital, Gil dropped me off at the Emergency Room entrance like they told us to, so I could get right up to the room and he went to park the car. I remember a nice old man getting a wheelchair ready for me and I had to wait a minute or two for a contraction to pass before I could even think of sitting down. Then a nice nurse came and got me to wheel me up to the Alternative Birthing Center. I remember her making chitchat with me and being slightly annoyed by this haha!

I got up to the ABC and there was a warm bath waiting for me in the huge tub. Yes please! I labored for a couple of hours and by 6:47 a.m. Mason James was born! He was 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long.

In the hospital the day we went home

It was a pretty amazing experience and I was so happy to have Gil by my side the whole time.

As Ready As We're Going To Be...

That's how I'm feeling these days! I'm 38 weeks + 4 days preg today and it has definitely started to feel like a waiting game! Personally, I think this little guy is gonna go the whole 40 weeks but we will see. Right now I am on mid-winter break and it's perfect timing to have this week off to rest and get last minute things done. I wonder if I will be returning to work this school year or not!?

Baby L's nursery is not really done yet. We need to hang artwork and such, but all the staples are there and he won't be sleeping in his own room for a while anyways. So I'm not too worried about that.

With Gil working so many hours during busy season, it was my biggest worry that the baby would come and Gil would be totally drained already. Now that busy season is past us (they filed on Friday...yay!) I feel like I can relax a little.

I can't believe that this pregnancy is almost done! For the most part, it feels like it has flown by and I have felt really good the whole time. Can't wish for anything better than that. Now I'm just ready to meet this baby!

Wish me luck in labor! :)

Sometimes the Weather Just Doesn't Cooperate...

at least when you live in Michigan it doesn't! I was supposed to have my baby shower yesterday. My sisters and best friend worked so hard planning, decorating, buying food, arranging everything. But you guessed, it the weather interfered. The shower was supposed to be in East Lansing and most people were driving in from the West side of the state. Unfortunately, they got slammed with a winter storm the night before and roads were not safe.

I debated back and forth whether or not we should just try to do the shower with whoever could make it since my due date is so soon. But people were dropping like flies and in the end, I decided it just wasn't worth risking the trip on potentially snowy/icy roads myself.

So we ended up canceling, but unfortunately, my Aunt Beth and Hilary did not get the message and they ended up going to the party. Long story short, Rachael, Sarah, Erin, Beth, and Hilary got to enjoy some shower food and cake. I'm pretty bummed that I wasn't at my own shower!!

Beth & Hilary

Me on the left, Gil on the right, baby in the middle!

Erin & Sar enjoying some shower treats

Beth and Hilary were so nice. On their way home, they dropped off some shower gifts that had been shipped ahead of time, so I got to open some gifts after all.

Gil felt really bad that the shower got canceled, so he came home from work with some gelato (what a great husb!) and took me out to dinner. Afterwards, we opened the gifts together. In the end, it ended up being a fun day...even though I would've much preferred to have spent it with all my friends and family if the weather had allowed!!

They made me an adorable scrapbook for future pictures

The adorable diaper cake Sarah made

On the flip side, we have now had four days total off from school because of weather. So, you win some you lose some. Snow days are definitely a win, in my book!

This mama to be has enjoyed those extra days off for resting! We're already at week 35! Not much longer to go!

This polar vortex is supposed to continue this week...wonder if we'll have anymore days off??!!?!

Crazy Michigan and Some Nursery Updates

We have been having some crazy weather here in Michigan the past week or so. We were due to come back from Winter break on  Monday, but we ended up with three snow days in a row! It was amazing! So today was my first day back to school...quite strange to start the week on a Thursday.

Over break, Gil was a champ, working on the nursery SOO much {after battling strep and a bad fever-poor guy!}.

When we first saw this house, we loved the spaciousness of the rooms but knew we had a lot of decor-updating ahead of us. This is how the nursery room looked when the previous owners were living here:

Not cute, right!? I will be honest, I haven't helped one ounce to actually prepare this room for our little guy. Gil gets all the credit. So far, he has taken down the lovely heart border, done some wall repair, painted the ceiling, primed and painted the trim, painted the walls, installed new outlet and light switch covers, and changed out the old registers for new ones. He also put together the crib, changing table, and dresser! I'm exhausted just writing all of that. He's one hard worker.

We still have a lot to do in the nursery, but it's definitely coming along.

 It's hard to tell the color of the walls from my iPhone pictures, but they are a light aqua. We are using aqua, gray, and yellow for the colors in the nursery. Kinda like this:

{source}

I bought this wall art from Etsy, which I'm waiting on any day now:

YassisPlace on Etsy

I also think I want to get this rug (although I haven't seen it in person yet) from IKEA. It was out of stock when we went last time...thumbs down. It looks a little brighter than it's showing up in the picture below. Even if we don't get this particular rug, we will get some kind of yellow rug for a pop of color on the floor.

Ikea Stockholm Rug

It will be fun to see how it all comes together. On a related note, we joined Amazon Mom  and have started to stock up on a few things. We got a shipment of newborn diapers the other day and they are ADORABLE. So teensy tiny.

Last but not least, I started working out again over break and am keeping track of my workouts (however minor) on a calendar on the fridge. Here's the bump & I on the treadmill. Getting big!

Happy {almost} New Year!

2014 is right around the corner and will bring the end to a very busy year!

In 2013...

I took a quick girl's trip to Florida over midwinter break with Tina and Laura.

We traveled to Quebec with Jon and Tina for a ski trip...so much fun!!

I had a laid back girl's weekend in beautiful {cold} Pentwater with Tina, Marci, and Tara.

I ran the 10k at the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids.

I finished out my first school year at my new job in a new grade level in a new school district!

Gil was promoted to manager at his job. I'm so proud of him after all the long hours and hard work he has put in!

A new friend joined the family! Gil's parents got a new dog. Laila and Rya weren't so sure about each other at first, but now they are besties.

We celebrated 5 years of marriage! We had to forgo our anniversary tradition of drinking our bottle of wine from the wedding this year...and it was the last bottle! We're thinking maybe a trip to Traverse City to stock up for the next 5 years. :)

I began a new position when we went back to school in September, moving out of my own classroom and providing support to first grade and multiage students in our building. It was such a good year for that change to happen! I don't know what my work situation will look like next year, but chances are I will be back in my own classroom.

We found out we are expecting a little boy...and will be meeting that little boy in approximately 60 days! In a lot of ways, I feel like this pregnancy is flying by and in other ways I feel like I've been pregnant forever!

This was taken at work around 29 weeks on "pajama day". :) 

We were season ticket holders for the Lions again this year. Sad end to the season!

We bought a new house and moved {about two weeks ago} and sold our old house. We're so thankful our house sold so fast. It was sad leaving our little blue bungalow, our first house after we got married, but we are enjoying the space in our new house.

We still have so much to do in our new house but it's definitely starting to feel like home. We've started on a few little projects around here like starting to peel the wallpaper off in the dining room, and prepping the walls for paint in the nursery. We still need to buy furniture for the baby. Yikes! Ikea here we come!! We also need area rugs, a new couch, and a table for the eat in kitchen...all in good time.

We closed out the year with Gil's holiday party at Joe Louis Arena. We got to go in the {smelly} locker room, which was pretty cool.

Tomorrow, Erin, Matt, Ada, and Wrigley will be coming over to celebrate the New Year. We won't be lasting until midnight this year with a 1 year old and a very pregnant lady on board...but that will just let us rest up for an amazing 2014. :) Happy New Year, everyone!

Time is Flying By!

I thought I would be updating pregnancy related things on here all the time. But the truth is, once the school year starts, I don't end up doing much of anything else. On the weekends, all I want to do is veg out! It is also sports-a-mania in our house once fall hits. We been watching plenty of Tigers and going to all the Lions home games.

Playoff Game

Comerica Park

I am already 21 weeks preg and feeling good! I find myself getting bump-ier by the day! I was so ambitious with working out at the beginning and now I've kind of fallen off the wagon a bit. I move so much during the school day that I don't feel too bad about it though. At our 20 week appointment last week, we got to see our little baby. Everything looks good and healthy!! So thankful!!! We also found out that our little one is a...BOY! That was a great moment and has been gradually sinking in.

11 Weeks

21 Weeks

We have been busy busy searching for a new house. We put in an offer on a house over the summer and were outbid. Happily, I think we finally found a new house and will hopefully be moving by the beginning of December. It's an older colonial and needs some updating, but has the space we were looking for! The housing market has been a little crazy here, so I won't believe we bought a new house until the keys are in my hands! Now on to the huge project of getting our current house sold!

Wish us luck...things might be crazy for the next couple of months!

Beyond Excited!

* Written on June 24th *

Wednesday, June 19 was a life changing day! We couldn't be more excited! Although I won't be posting this until much further down the road, I wanted to capture my feelings and thoughts closer to the event!

For several days, I felt like something was up. I took a test on Monday (knowing it was probably too soon) and it was negative. On Wednesday, I just had the urge to try again and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw..."Pregnant"! I freaked out a little! Gil was at work while all this was going on, mind you. I hopped in the car and drove to CVS to buy another test...just to be sure! Sure enough, the second test was pregnant! I was so excited to tell Gil. He was working a little late and then going to workout. I texted him and said that I wanted to hang out, so he should skip his workout that night. Of course, he said he really wanted to get a workout in...so that meant I had to wait. I was going to make dinner for us and tell him over dinner, but I got so hungry I couldn't wait and ate without him. So pretty much by the time he walked in the door, I couldn't keep the news in anymore. "You're gonna be a daddy!!" He was really happy and claimed he wasn't surprised. Well, I was! Then he high fived me. Haha. That part cracked me up.

I'm currently about 4 weeks preggo and so happy and excited!! I feel great and don't really have any symptoms besides having to pee all the time! A couple of days before I found out, I had some pretty big headaches too. I've been hungrier than normal too (one of the things that tipped me off). I can always eat, but don't normally feel hungry so often.

It's awesome that it's summer so I can relax and be stress free. On the flip side, I'm having to work hard to keep myself busy or the time is going to draggggg by! I took a trip to IKEA today and am doing some house things, so that's keeping me busy. Next week we have a wedding to go to and it's 4th of July, so we will be in Grand Rapids a lot. So excited to head to the West side!

I have been running pretty much everyday. I have to run right when I wake up otherwise it is way too hot. It's been 86-88 degrees and humid the last few days. I'm really excited about having a healthy, active pregnancy. I've already been perusing Fitpregnancy.com  for some good workouts. I don't know if it's just in my head or not, but my body has felt slightly heavy and sluggish when I have run the past couple of days so I've kept my pace pretty slow. I'm only going about 1-2 miles just to take things easy and walking a lot. In the evenings, I've been walking Laila. Gotta keep movin'!

So hard keeping this a secret!!!