Shower Pictures

As promised here are some pictures from the shower. I have lots more, my sister took a picture of every present I opened I think. If you would like to see more let me know and I can get you copies. Here are the highlights:

Jessica did a very nice job planning the shower. The decorations were terrific! Thank you to everyone who helped set up and decorate the day of the shower.

I was surprised by the number of gifts we received. Thank you to everyone who sent/brought gifts. We have lots of wonderful things ready for our little girl now. Thanks again!

The favor boxes were filled with pink m&m's, nuts and Hershey kisses with "It's a Girl" written on their flags.

Jenni picked out the cutest cake! I love the little baby on top.

I tried to find pictures that show off the belly. This one shows off the cake, but doesn't really show the belly very well.

This picture shows a little more. I feel a lot bigger than I look in the pictures!

Thanks again to everyone who came, helped out, or sent gifts. It was a great afternoon and I enjoyed getting to visit with those who came.

37 weeks

I know it has been a while since our last post. I have been waiting until I can get some pictures uploaded, but that seems to never happen. So they will have to come later.

We have reached 37 weeks, and are getting closer to the day we get to meet our little girl. I am still feeling good. I am tired, and feel like I have a 20 lb basketball attatched to my midsection, but I really have no complaints. I am sure as our March 15th due date gets even closer, I will start to get impatient, but so far so good.

We had the baby shower this last weekend (pictures to come I promise!) and had a lovely time. There weren't very many people there, but I could sure feel the love for this little one already. Jessica did an awesome job planning the shower, and I am thankful for Cynthia and Jenni for helping put everything together. Thank you to everyone who came/sent presents to the shower. It was a great time and helped us feel more prepared for our little one.

We now have the baby's room pretty much ready. The walls are painted, crib set-up and clothes washed and put away. There aren't many things on the wall yet, but that will come. I really like her room and will have pictures soon I hope to put online.

Well, our bags are packed for the hospital, and we are patiently waiting for the day our little one decides to arrive. We still have a few weeks to go, but the end is in sight. :) I promise to have pictures up soon.

:)

A video update of the basement as of 1-29-09.

On blogger.....



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On YouTube.......

33 Weeks Update

It is hard to imagine that our due date is less than 7 weeks away. We had another checkup at the doctor's yesterday and all seems to be going very smoothly. Hurray!

I am feeling pretty good. The baby is moving more and more each day, sometimes my belly jerks and jumps with her kicks and jabs. She found my ribs yesterday and was having fun kicking them too. Oh dear. :)

We are making great progress on the basement. The carpet was laid last week and my mom helped me move the guest bedroom downstairs. A few more boxes to move out of the baby's room and I will be ready to have it painted and start setting up for the big day. It is hard to believe that all of the stuff that was in the bedroom upstairs fills both bedrooms downstairs, I really had it packed in there.

It was a good thing we moved everything, because we have already had our first guests in the basement. Brandon's friends Donavan and Orin came and stayed two nights this week while in town for business. It was nice to have the basement for them to hang out in. :)

We love the projection system...I don't think the TV upstairs has even been turned on in the last couple weeks. If I remember the dimensions right, the image on the wall is equivalent to a 150 inch TV. WOW! It will be so cool to watch the superbowl on it this weekend.

The bar is coming together. Dad made the cabinet bases last weekend and they are installed along with about half of the counter tops. The bar top and the cabinet doors still need to be installed along with the barn-wood we are using to cover the outside of the bar. It will be awesome when it is finished! Our goal of superbowl weekend was pretty close, the basement will be at least close by Sunday.

I will try and get pictures of the basement up soon, along with some belly pictures. This week is a little crazy and so it will be this weekend at the earliest. :)

Love, Jami

Registry Update

After rethinking the bedding set I originally picked out, I have changed my mind. Here is a picture of the new set. I guess I wasn't looking at the prices of the items I originally picked out...and was a little shocked when I looked at those this morning. :)

Here are the links to our registries to make it easier to access:

Target
Walmart

Registry Information and Baby Update

Brandon and I have created gift registries at both Target and Walmart for our little one. The due date is quickly approaching. I think that my friend Jessica is planning on throwing a shower for us in February sometime.

I didn't add any blankets, clothes or toys to the registry although we do need all of those things. Diapers will also be gratefully accepted. The Target registry has the bedding set I have picked out, and that will be the general theme for the nursery.

We had another prenatal checkup today. Everything is going great. I was a little nervous about the results from the glucose screening they did at the last appointment to test for gestational diabetes, but the results came back normal! Yea! I am already in the midst of my 30th week of pregnancy...which means that in about 10 weeks we will get to meet our little angel. It is crazy how fast this time has gone!

We do have some things already. Thank you Samantha and Becky! We have a swing, a jumper, 2 high chairs, a baby carrier/backpack, a car seat, and a start on clothing, although we don't have much for the newborn-6month age. We purchased an infant car-seat/stroller set and a bassinet/pack-n-play while we were in Colorado last week.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and has a happy New Year!

Basement update 12-26-08

This is an update on our basement. I will do one again here in a couple days when we get more of the sheet rock done.




On a side note if you would like to watch any of our movies in HD here are the steps to do so.

1. Click on the video while it is playing that you wish to watch in HD. (This takes you to the actual post on youtube)

2. Click the link in the bottom right corner of the video that says "Watch in HD". The video will reload in a 720p HD format.

I know most don't care about seeing the basement in HD but I would be willing to bet there will be some videos come March that you might want to see in a little higher quality.

Happy New Year

Pictures...

While I had the camera out this weekend taking pictures of the basement, I went ahead and took some other pictures of our home decorated for Christmas.

I love my Christmas tree, the picture doesn't really do it justice. I should have waited until the lights were on for the picture. I am sure that next year there will be a lot more presents under our tree.

My Grandma Bonnie made the nativity scene for me a couple of years ago, and I really do love it. The pieces have a mother of pearl finish with touches of gold. Thank you again for the set Grandma!

Here are our stockings. I made them both this year and really enjoyed the process. I suppose I will have to find another one to make for our baby's first Christmas next year.

Here is our Hailey dog. She really does not like the power tools being used in the basement and usually finds a place to hide upstairs away from the noise. She will definitely be happy when the basement is done.

This is Cheyenne. She is now about 7 months old, and is full of energy. She is a very loving dog who doesn't let me get too far out of her sight. She loves to cuddle and will curl up in my lap as soon as I sit down. She will be a very jealous puppy when my lap is occupied with a baby instead of her.

Wow...two posts in two days. This must be some kind of a record for me. I am excited about our doctor's appointment tomorrow. I try not to worry about the baby, but I will be relieved to see her again and to make sure that everything is going OK.

I am feeling pretty good. I definitely have some aches and pains as my belly is getting bigger, but nothing that has limited what I do. My students at school have started asking more questions, and it is fun to share this experience with them. I hope that they hear the message that it is best to wait until the right time to have a baby, we definitely have enough students who are having babies in high school.

It feels good to be making progress on the basement. We are that much closer to getting the baby's room ready for the big day. I imagine that she will share a room with us for a while, but I hope to have the room pretty much ready by her due date.

Well, I will post the results of our doctors visit sometime soon. Until then...

Basement Progress

Brandon and I are working on finishing our basement this winter. The floor-plan we posted earlier this fall hasn't changed by much. We are hoping to have everything ready to sheet-rock by the 19th so that we can be close to done with the major parts by the end of Christmas break. Here are some pictures of our progress:

There will be a wall under the stairs with a built-in bookcase on the right hand side of the wall. Someday I hope to have a piano to put on the left-hand side of the wall. (Hopefully we can get it downstairs!) There will be a storage area under the stairs that can be accessed from the hallway.

Brandon and his dad are installing can-lighting in the main room of the basement. The back corner of the room will be the theater room, complete with projection TV, 5x9 foot screen and surround sound. He has been having fun designing and planning for this.

We have the projector set up in the upstairs office upstairs for now... the picture fills the wall.

Here is the view from the stairs. We hope to put a pool table on the other side of the room. In the corner is the storage room. Brandon is putting up the wiring for several neon lights that we will add as time goes on.

Next to the pool table will be a complete wet-bar. You can see the framework for the bar counter and the soffit above the counter. This area will have a full-sized refrigerator, sink, and lighted display cabinets. Down the hall, to the right will be the under-stair storage and to the left is the utility room.

At the end of the hallway will be two bedrooms and a full bath. I couldn't get a good picture of the bedrooms, but each have soffits around the edges of the room and will be open to the full 9 foot height in the middle of the room. For now, one will serve as the guest bedroom and the other will be my project room.

It has been an interesting process so far, and we really appreciate all of the help we have been getting from our dads! We are hoping to have the basement ready to host a Super-Bowl party. I am optimistic about the deadline...but as you can see there is still a lot of work to be done!

24 Week Update

We had our most recent prenatal checkup yesterday afternoon. It is hard to believe that we are already in our 6th month!

Everything seems to be going great, no complaints from me. I have been a little tired, but that is always my biggest complaint when my body is under stress. The baby's movements are getting stronger by the day. Brandon was able to feel the baby kick for the first time last weekend. I am glad that he is now able to share in this experience.

Four weeks ago, after our ultrasound, our doctor was about 85% sure that we were going to have a little boy. However, our baby was much more cooperative this time around and the doctor is very sure we are actually having a little girl. Oops.

Brandon and I are adjusting to the change. We were both looking forward to having a little boy around, since there are so many little girls on my side. So the news was a little disappointing, even though Brandon was never fully convinced that we were having a boy. He has had several dreams about our baby, and in every dream the baby has been a girl.

I suppose we will never know for sure until we get to hold our little one in the spring. I am very much looking forward to the day that we can cuddle our baby. The reality of the pregnancy is starting to sink in for me, and that is both scary and exciting. I pray that Brandon and I can be the best parents possible to our little one.

Our next ultrasound is scheduled for December 17th. The doctor called it our tie-breaker ultrasound. Hopefully we can feel a little more confident that the baby is a girl after a second ultrasound. We are also planning on getting some 3-d pictures then, so hopefully we will have some good pictures to post, and to share with family over Christmas vacation.

I will try and be better about posting, it is just hard to know what to write about. :)