Final Preparations - Nursery!

Less than two weeks until our little one is due to arrive! It is SO hard to believe!

Yes, we are just about as ready as we're going to be, and yes, I am more mentally ready every day as I become less comfortable! I am still planning to work one more week, but everyone knows to be flexible. My appointments are all going well - they are commenting that he is VERY low, but he has been there for a couple weeks now, so that's not really new. He just likes to be prepared!

Speaking of prepared: The nursery is just about complete! We are hoping to get our alphabet wall up this weekend (which I know many of you are waiting to see), but here is the rest of the room!

Our little reading corner!

Above this area is where the alphabet wall will go.
Teddy is sitting in for Biscuit while we practice our diapering skills!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we wait out these last weeks and/or days! We are SO excited to meet our Biscuit and to introduce him to all of the amazing people who love him so much already!

The Final Countdown!

Well, I'm now officially less than a month from my due date, with about 3 weeks to go! Time flies! Biscuit is growing daily, and making it ever so difficult for me to find a comfortable position for sitting and sleeping. February is looking to be just as busy as January, with lots to keep us busy as we wait for our little one's arrival!

Biscuit and I got to get all dressed up for Scott and Alicia's wedding here in Worthington on Saturday!

Overall, we are doing well, feeling well, and right on track with where we should be! Biscuit is head-down and ready to go whenever the day comes. He continues to be active, and has even had the hiccups a few times! I have been getting very tired, but I suppose that's to be expected. I decided last week was probably my last time at my adult tap class, and I've pretty much stopped going to my workout class at the Y as well. I decided tapping at 36 weeks was pretty good. :-) I'm still getting in walks (when the weather allows), and doing prenatal yoga and stretching! I am planning to work until the week before my due date, as long as everything continues to go smoothly, but that is getting more difficult every week - especially my long days in Fairmont!

Lots of fun celebrating another mommy-to-be at her baby shower!
Colby and I are due around the same time!

Two weekends ago, I had wonderful help from my mom, as we spent two FULL days cleaning, organizing, and prepping for baby! We now have the necessities ready, with the pack-n-play (with bassinet) in the bedroom, diapers prepped, and final purchases made. Now we are working on putting final touches on the decorative side of things: hanging pictures, finding a rug/lamp, etc. I will post some pictures as we put it all together - I'm excited to share!

It's still hard to believe how soon we will be a family of 3 with a little one in our arms! Thank you again to everyone for all of the love and support we have felt through this journey - and it's just about to truly start! 

Adventures in Third Trimester

29 weeks, and our little Biscuit is growing more every day! Time is flying by, and we can't wait to meet our little one! I felt absolutely great throughout my second trimester, and continue to feel well overall. Third trimester has brought an increase in muscle cramps, heartburn, and overall discomfort, but certainly nothing I can complain about too much. The energy I got back during 2nd trimester is slowly dwindling again, but that is to be expected. It takes a lot of energy to grow a little person!

29 weeks! (please ignore the rug pad waiting patiently for us to put it under the rug)

I started seeing baby move around 25 weeks, and it has been such fun to experience! He continues to be active, and Brian has really enjoyed being able to feel and see so much movement! We both talk to him often, and await his (usually) not-so-subtle responses. Of course, being a music therapist, I sing to him as often as I can, though one of my strange symptoms of pregnancy has been a hoarseness that keeps me from doing this as much as I would like. It has definitely been one of the more difficult symptoms for me to deal with, especially this time of year with Christmas Carols all around! I look forward to singing with him more when he arrives!

I'm getting far enough along that I'm getting questions of "Are you ready?" and "How is the nursery coming?" We took an Ikea shopping trip a few weeks back and were able to get the bulk of our larger furniture then, including a crib, storage, and bookshelf. Here I am, ready to check out:

We have also been blessed with true generosity from friends and family who have given us hand-me-downs from their own children, from clothing to car seat, stroller, and swing. All of this has started to fill our nursery (and beyond at times!) and is making it feel a little more real that baby will be here soon! We are excited to continue putting the nursery together, and will definitely share some pictures once it's closer to finished!

We have so much to be thankful for during this holiday season, and often find ourselves marveling at the fact that we will have a 9-month-old by Christmas next year! For now, we will enjoy every moment of baby kicks, nursery organization, and anticipation! 

Halfway there!

It's hard to believe that we are already halfway to meeting our little one! With November and December always flying by with the holidays, the end of February will be here before we know it! This week marks 20 weeks, and all is going well. We had our ultrasound last week, and found out our much-awaited news....

It's a boy!

Brian has been sure of this all along (of course), but we had many friends and family guessing girl. Our little stinker wasn't going to give us a clear view at first, but confirmed it at the very end of the ultrasound.

I am feeling our Biscuit move more and more often, and every time I am in for an appointment or ultrasound I am told he is a wiggle worm! Since Brian and I both have trouble sitting still for too long, I suppose this isn't much of a surprise! I noticed the other day that Biscuit seemed to be moving more when I was singing, which has been fun. I will have to see if this continues to be the case! I also had a staff member at one of my music therapy sessions say I was going to have to get out my guitar and sing my "Hello" song for baby in the middle of the night, since he hears it so often! It may just be the song he knows best!

After a spell of not feeling very hungry, I am ravenous these last couple weeks, craving lots of starchy deliciousness from pasta to donuts. I suppose that is to feed Biscuit's growth, which is happening at a crazy rate right now! This was the first week I had many people comment on my "bump" despite the fact that I've seen it for weeks :-) It has grown a lot in the last week - in fact, I had pain from my belly stretching so fast last weekend!

I am feeling well and enjoying baby preparation! I'm getting antsy to start working on the nursery, but we will have to wait a little longer, as we have a trip planned to the cities in November for some furniture shopping. For now, I am reading books, doing online research, and looking at the many, many options for cribs, carriers, play mats, toys, diaper bags, changing pads, bottles, clothing, monitors, and the list goes on! There are way too many options out there, and so much of it seems so unnecessary or over-the-top to me. If you had any "must have" items for your newborn, I'd love to hear about them!

I'll keep the updates coming as we continue on this adventure! All the best to all of you!

Pregnancy Update: 18 weeks!

Happy Monday from Molly and Biscuit - 18 Weeks!

My pregnancy expectations: 

• Weekly belly pictures, taken in the same location and pose each week.
• Monthly blog updates, complete with said pictures
• Weekly journal updates on my trusty pregnancy app, recording current weight and documenting above-mentioned picture
• Flying pigs and unicorns?!? 

Pregnancy actuality:

Life goes on! And life is busy! So here is my very first pregnancy blog, complete with the only 2 bump pictures I've taken, both selfies in front of the bathroom mirror because I had to just take them by myself when I was thinking of it. The only time I open my pregnancy app is to read the weekly update. And really, sometimes I read the week before and current week at the same time! I am having a blast preparing for parenthood, but it has kept me extra busy! This is life, and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

The basics and where we are now:

We are due at the very end of February and hoping baby does not make a Feb 29th appearance. Biscuit (as we lovingly refer to our little one) is currently about 18 and a half weeks, and growing at an amazing rate! I feel like my bump is bigger every day, and it is time for maternity pants now. I just started feeling movement last week and Biscuit is kicking and dancing a lot already! It is an amazing feeling! I am eating a lot of pickles, but not on my ice cream. My next appointment is later this week, and includes our next ultrasound. YES, we will be finding out the sex of the baby, and YES we will share, probably sometime next week! :-) Brian is convinced Biscuit is a boy. I haven't had a real feeling one way or the other, but we will find out soon! The doctors say everything is going well so far - prayers are always appreciated that everything continues to go smoothly! 

Pictures:

Our first ultrasound - Biscuit was moving around like crazy despite only being an inch long!

The first day I noticed a true "bump" - This was at about 14 weeks

Adventures in Utah: Bryce Canyon National Park

We were lucky enough to check 3 National Parks off of our list this year! We took a trip to the Everglades in February, and then took a trip to Utah at the end of June! Our Utah trip started with a long drive, taking us to Bryce Canyon National Park!

Bryce Canyon is a beautiful park! It is a desert, but also has forest. It is at a high elevation, but doesn't feel that way. The rock formations are simply otherworldly. Pictures and descriptions cannot do them justice! If you have a short time at Bryce, here are some must-dos:

• Watch the sun rise over the canyon
• Take a trail down into the amphitheater to explore
• Hike down to/through Wall Street
• Take in a couple look-out views
• Consider checking out a ranger program 

It is a park that can be seen in 2-3 days if you're doing it in combination with other parks, but if we had gone into the backcountry, we also could have easily spent a week. It is a smaller park, nothing like Glacier or the Smokies, but there is still a lot to see, and it is definitely worth the trip!

We chose Bryce Canyon due to its weather, which is generally milder than most of the other Utah parks, staying mostly in the high 70s and low 80s, because of the higher elevation. Other Utah desert parks (Arches, Zion, etc) can be in the 100s this time of year! Unfortunately, we happened to catch this park at a very hot time. We were dealing with temperatures in the 90s every day, which changed some of our plans a bit! We took day hikes, aiming to be done hiking by lunch-time, and decided to scratch our backcountry plans. Our afternoons were spent relaxing, playing games, and trying to stay cool back at the campsite. We really enjoyed being at the North Campground, as it allowed us to hike straight from our campsite to our trail for the day, the general store, or the visitor's center. Here are the hikes we took:

Figure-8 Loop (Queens Garden Trail, Peek-a-Boo Loop, and Navajo Loop through Wall Street)

Let me just start by saying that this is a tough trail, especially in the heat we were dealing with. I think I underestimated it because of its shorter mileage. While backpacking, Brian and I have hiked 10-12 miles in one day, up and down mountains, but this 5-6 miler wore me down! The last path out of Wall Street was a rough way to end things, too! We'll just say we were ready for some ice cream when we were done! If you can only do one thing in the park, this would give you a great overview of the best of the formations! You could also do any part of this figure-8 alone rather than doing it all!

Fairyland Loop Trail

Two of us just took this trail to Tower Bridge and back. Two of us went the whole way around. I am not ashamed to admit I turned around at Tower Bridge. This was another great hike, into a different area of the park. There is a nice area at Tower Bridge for taking a load off and enjoying the shade of some trees. It would be a great lunch hike with a picnic at the bottom!

Mossy Cave Trail

This is a very short trail that is actually right outside of the regular park area. We ended with this hike before leaving the park. There is a waterfall here, as well as a large cave opening. The trail itself is not shaded, but there is a creek running beside the trail, so it would be a great place to allow children (or yourself!) to cool off on a hot day!

Lookouts/Rim Trail

Whether driving or hiking a section of the rim trail, there is a lot to see without ever setting foot down into the amphitheaters. We hiked parts of the rim trail multiple times on our way to other trails, and also drove to each lookout along the road on one day. Here are some of the amazing views you'll see from the rim!

Don't forget that there are some awesome backcountry experiences to be had in Bryce Canyon, as well! While we opted out this time, I have a feeling we might be back to check out this part of the park! Stay tuned for the rest of our Utah trip!

Our Latest House Adventures!

Well, it has been a very long time since I gave an update on our house, and a lot has changed! Rather than write a lot, I'm just going to post some pictures! Here we go!

Last year, we painted the laundry room this awesome shade of turquoise! This pictures doesn't QUITE do it justice, but you get the idea! We also bought the shoe bench and shelving at Ikea on a big shopping trip! Lots of storage for all the stuff that accumulates near a front door!

I got my new jars for my spice rack, and even did some crafting with them! I ended up getting a set of alphabet metal stamps and stamping the herb name into each lid. I found this was much better than trying to find a pre-made set that had "Lawry's" and "Lemon Pepper" in addition to "Parsley" and "Thyme"

We finally removed the half-wall and spindles that broke up and dated our main room! Brian worked hard demolishing, then patching, and it looks great!

We painted the downstairs guest room! It looks so fresh with bright new curtains, too! Next, a new bedspread. This cheery room is just waiting for guests if you're ever in the area!

Lastly, but CERTAINLY not least, we just finished redoing our flooring! Out with the brown shag, and in with beautiful "Luxury Vinyl" floors! With the exception of Izzy slipping and sliding all over the place, everyone loves them! Again, Brian has been hard at work. The new floors cover almost the entire upstairs, including kitchen, dining, living, hall, and both bedrooms. Our rug for the living room is currently on back-order, and we still need to get the baseboards and some of the furniture back in, but it is a large project almost complete!

Next comes actually getting something up on the living room walls! Outside work is coming yet before winter, as well. Then it will be the downstairs family room - a fun project for sure! Always a project to be completing as a home owner, and we are enjoying it (most of the time)!