Showered with love..

This past Saturday, Karla and I were the guests of honor at a baby shower thrown for us by my sister in law Amy and mother in law Kathy. It was a beautiful shower with great food, great company and great gifts for our new addition! Here are a few pictures from the day! Enjoy!

31 weeks 3 days :)





My favorite parts of the shower were the fun games, and the delicious chocolate fountain with fresh strawberries and other goodies to dip in the gooey goodness!
Kevin and I are so very thankful for all the gifts we received. Even more thankful for the love, support and prayers from family and friends as we start a new chapter in our lives!

A Quarter of a Century

A quarter of a century ago...I was born! Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate my 25th birthday! Thanks as well to everyone who sent me well wishes via facebook and phone texts. It was so great to hear from everyone! Thank you to my Mom for the adorable bibs/burp clothes. Kevin and I both love them very much! Thanks to the Trosen's for the baby lotion and super cute ducky hooded towel! I knew what it was even though Kevin thought it was a Halloween outfit! :) Baby girl will be super snuggly in it! Thank you to Kathy for the maternity shirt and the yummy dessert! Green is my favorite color and your chocolate dessert was divine. Thanks to Jess, Craig and family for the homemade card, I am going to save it and use it in my baby's scrapbook because it's too cute to not save it! And last but not least...Thank you to baby girl who graced me with my first 2 belly stretch marks and an even more stretched out belly button :) Only 9 1/2 more weeks til I get to meet you sweet baby girl! Daddy and I are super excited! You will be so loved! 30 weeks 4 days

30 weeks

Helloo...30 weeks! Now it really seems like baby girl could be here so soon! I don't really have much to blog about this week. I feel huge, and look huge too! My mom has been great, sending me baby outfits/blankets that were mine as a child. I can't wait to dress her up in them and compare photos! Thanks mom! You are the best! Other than that..just working hard. I am working 4 days a week. It hasn't been too bad yet. I notice that I am sweating more and A LOT slower! Everyone at work has been accomidating and very helpful though. I have said that I hope I go into labor while at work since it is literally across the street from the hospital. Well...maybe there will be more to post next week :) Love everyone! Keep in touch!
Kristen

Sugar & Spice

Well...it's a girl! I had my 29 week check up today and all is well. My placenta has migrated up as the uterus was growing, so no worries with that anymore. Baby is just the right size, heartrate 138, and still right on track to be due on August 26th! I have had a cold/allergies for about a week now. It seems to be getting better. As far as pregnancy goes, everything else is great. Sleeping is harder and harder and each and everyday even more uncomfortable. I have found that our couch works the best sometimes.


I am a little disappointed in the ultrasound pictures that we got. While at our appt. she took several of feet and hands etc, and when we got home to look at the cd, there were only a few pictures..one a profile and the other a straight on face. It was so amazing to see baby girl opening and shutting her eyelids and smacking her lips! Well 75 more days to go. My next appointment is in another 4 weeks, but I will definately keep you posted in between now and then!
Love all!
Kevin, Kristen & baby GIRL! :) :) :) :) :)

28 weeks

Happy 28 weeks! Only 84 days to go! Nothing much has really changed in the last week. It is just getting increasingly harder to sleep through the night. Of course, this is just the beginning and I'm sure my body is just preparing for what is to come in 3 months! I find myself waking up at all hours of the night...WIDE AWAKE! (It's 2am..couldn't fall back to sleep so I thought I'd blog!) I feel great otherwise. I find myself just more wore out than I ever have before! I get home from work and just want to go to sleep! I force myself to stay up, knowing that if I would take a nap in the evening that I would for sure be up all night long. But now at 2 am, being wide awake...I am wondering why I didn't just let myself indulge in a nap. I'm up in the middle of the night anyway!

On a different note, I just want to thank my Mom and family for the Pack n' Play bassinett/travel crib you can see in the background of the picture above. It is so great! The colors and pattern are neutral and very attractive! I think my favorite features are that it is so light weight and has wheels so I can just pull it close to me in the middle of the night if needed. We also received a Eddie Bauer diaper bag that is very gender neutral brown color from my family as well. I wanted something that we could both carry but I didn't want animals or characters on it..This bag is perfect! (picture will come soon)! Thank you again to my family for EVERYTHING! I Love you and miss you! (p.s. of course here is the weekly self portrait!..and I'm not sure why my face is blurry in the picture above..but you still get the idea that I am HUGE!!!!)

And on a super exciting note.. my brother Jordan and sister Kara both celebrated graduations this last weekend. Jordan graduated from Normal Community High School in Normal, IL. Jordan plans to attend junior college this fall after a summer of traveling with family and his youth group! Kara graduated from Parkland College in Champaign, IL. She graduated with a Associates in Applied Sciene/ Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA). Kara was offered a job in a suburb of Chicago at a nursing home. She is making the move to the big city in a few weeks! Kevin and I are very proud of both of them. We are bummed we couldn't make it to the festivities but are looking forward to seeing everyone this fall!