33 Weeks!

I can't believe I haven't updated in so long!  We've been busy with the house, the shower, and the nursery!  We are so excited to get to meet Parker in 7 short weeks!

How far along? 33 Weeks

Total weight gain: 30 pounds gained at my 32 week appointment.... no weight gain in the last month, but Parker seems to be getting all the nutrition he needs!!
Maternity clothes? Absolutely.  Regular clothes are so uncomfortable now that he's head down!
Stretch marks? No, thank goodness!
Sleep: Not well...Final preparations I guess!
Best moment this week: Getting all the stuff up on the walls in the nursery and bathroom.  And feeling him moving all the time, means he's nice and healthy =)
Miss Anything? Bending down to pick something up, taking a deep breath, working out.
Movement: Still love feeling all the hiccups and backflips!
Food cravings: Water & Ice, and cereal still!!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Anything with tomato products!  Spaghetti, lasagna, etc.
Gender: Still all boy, and "not shy" about it per the ultrasound tech ;)
Labor Signs: I get contractions every day...but still making the cut off for not going to the hospital!!
Symptoms: Heartburn, breathlessness, sleeplessness, and an overall squished feeling!!
Wedding rings on or off? On, yay!  No looking like 16 & pregnant...
Happy or Moody most of the time: So Happy!
Looking forward to: baby's arrival!! It's all I can think about.. baby brain is no joke. And neither is nesting.. I literally have never cleaned & organized so much in my entire life.

At 28 weeks, we got to see our little peanut, measuring around 2.5 lbs!  He's got a full head of hair and chunky cheeks!  We had another checkup at 32 weeks, and he's weighing in at 4.5 lbs!  He was hiding, so no pictures this time =(

We've made a ton of progress on the nursery, putting up the curtains, setting up the crib and changing table, and adding our decorations to the walls!  We're just waiting on the rocker and the bookshelf =)

All the bathroom stuff is ready to go!

Twenty Six Weeks!

Which means we're almost to the 3rd trimester!  Thank goodness, bring it on!

How Far Along? 26 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain: 20 lbs!  Yikes!

Maternity Clothes:  All the way!  This belly is big!

Stretch Marks?  No, thank goodness!

Sleep:  Awesome!

Best Moment This Week:  Deciding on a name...Parker!  And getting the nursery started!

Miss Anything?  A Margarita after a long day of work...

Movement:  Lots!  This baby boy does.not.stop.moving!

Food Cravings:  Mostly cereal and slurpees!

Have you started to show?  Absolutely!  People definitely stare at the belly (and try to touch)

Wedding Rings on or off?  On still, thank goodness!

Boy or Girl? BOY!

We got to take part in Alex's Baptism on August 25th.  It was so much fun, and so great to see him, he's getting so big!

Wearing Uncle Jose's new bowtie...

Nursery Progress!!

Walls are painted...so is the paneling!

Tuga helping with the closet..

Closet is in!  Now, time to fill it up ;)

DIY Weekend!

Very excited to have two nursery projects under my belt! 

As I said before, we can't justify splurging for a $150 set of 3 canvases.  So I figured, why not try?  And plus, with my handy-dandy iPhone app from Michael's, I learned all acrylic canvas paints and canvases were 40-50% off in store!  Score!  We went with 10 x 12 canvases.  I spent approximately $30 on supplies for this project.

So, I made a pattern of the whale and spout outline, and cut out the paper in order to create a stencil.  I'm always afraid to trace an outline with pencil, so I taped the stencils I made onto the canvases themselves and took a fine brush, with little paint, and traced.

One coat of paint:

Just with outline, ready to fill:

Ta-Da!  So excited with how this turned out!  Can't wait to see it all in the nursery!

I loved this sign, only after many attempts to contact the person who made it to purchase it, I was left with just this picture to go by:

I loved it, and especially with our beach-themed nursery, it was PERFECT!  

So after much searching, I stumbled upon these letters at Michael's:

I also bought a sponge brush (as not to leave brush strokes on the letters) and plain white acrylic paint.  I realized after painting all the letters I didn't actually need the word "star."  Oh well, pregnancy brain only cost me an extra $2-ish (so far).

Now, I had NO clue as to how to get this wood for the background!  I showed the project to my dad, and he told me Home Depot sells boards of wood already glued together.  Yay!  So after looking at every single pine board (trying to find one without knots), I finally picked one out:

I placed out the letters, marked it with a builder's square with pencil, and my wonderful husband sawed it to the right size and sanded it for me!

And after one trip to Lowes and another to Home Depot, I settled on the right color.  The first was WAY too gray =(  Pregnancy brain add another $10 wasted.

After the first coat:

Two stains, a pre-stain treatment and a satin finish later:

Can you see my stalker in the background?  He's been so helpful all day.  He's probably sorry for leaving teeth marks in one of the "I"s.  

I found a piece of scrap wood that was level and even to place out all the letters before gluing.

Letters all laid out, ready to glue.

The finished product, all glued and with the star in place!  LOVE!  Can't wait to see it on the nursery wall!

The price to DIY this was approximately $80 ($20 letters, $1 white paint, $1 sponge, $20 plank board, $20 two stains, $10 wood pre-treat, $10 satin finish).  Hey, no one ever said DIYing was always cheaper!!!  It would have been nice to have some of these items lying around, but alas, no.

What a Month!!

July has been a whirlwind for our growing family!!  I can't believe we're past the mid-point and the countdown has begun!

We had our Anatomy Scan 7/11/2012 - We stuck to our guns and had the ultrasound technician hide the sex from us!  It was so much fun going over every finger and toe of our little one.  She was so patient in explaining everything, and we got an entire film reel of photos!

We even got a sneak peek of what our baby boy looks like!  We're thinking he looks more like mom at the moment ;)

We can't wait to find out if it's a girl or boy!!!

Baby G and I took a VERY relaxing vacation to Myrtle Beach.  Spent some time with our wonderful family and had a GREAT time!

Aunt Dianne & Alison threw us a very surprise baby shower!  I actually looked around to see who they yelled surprise at!  We got some very thoughtful gifts from our aunts and cousins, and couldn't feel more grateful!!

The awesome diaper cake Aunt Shelley & Courtney put together.  So cute!!

We picked up the gender reveal cake Saturday before we headed out to Kate & Sean's wedding in Grand Rapids. So anxious to see the frosting color!!

Celebrating with Sean & Kate.  Can't believe they're finally married!

So July 22, 2012 finally came!  Our gender reveal party!  It was SO much fun...a bunch of friends and family came out to celebrate and be the first to know whether Baby G was a boy or girl!!

Sam made the most adorable pom-pons and flags to decorate...

And to help out with the guessing, I wrote out all the Old Wive's Tales...

 I love technology!  When it was finally time to cut the cake, we were able to Skype Jose's family so they could be there with us!

Surprise!!  BLUE frosting!!  I don't think Jose could look any happier, do you?!

And we finally got to open the envelope of the proof...Our little boy definitely isn't shy!

And that was the cue for Baby G to start being spoiled rotten...Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Cardy for his ADORABLE new shoes!!

And that brings us to the end of July, I can't believe it's already been 22 weeks!  Our little guy weighs one pound this week.  Keep it up!

How Far Along? 22 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain: 18 lbs!  Yikes!

Maternity Clothes:  All the way!  Mostly pants, I have a few maternity tops, but longer regular tops still fit, too!

Stretch Marks?  No, thank goodness!

Sleep:  Awesome!

Best Moment This Week:  Our gender reveal party!  LOVED every minute of it!

Miss Anything?  Taking cold medicine!  I'm miserable with this cold!

Movement:  Lots!  This baby boy does.not.stop.moving!

Food Cravings:  Mostly cereal and pop-tarts again.  Thanks to the return of the heartburn :(

Have you started to show?  Absolutely!  I definitely popped over the last few weeks!

Wedding Rings on or off?  On!  Yay!

Boy or Girl? BOY!

And now I get to start decorating!!  My first DIY was this adorable whale print.  Since I can't justify $150+ on something like this, I attempted it at home.  I'm really happy with the result!

Inspiration:

Actual:

And now on to the Twinkle Twinkle board...Wish me luck!