Sad...

None of this for us today....

Because of this....

I would be upset, but I think being safe rather than being nervous on our flights is much more comforting and relaxing. So tonight. I'm going to cuddle up on the couch and enjoy a nice evening with my honey and just hope we are able to fly out tomorrow! 

Letter to baby Bria

I got a surprise call from my sister Alexis at work.

It was so good to hear her voice. We usually just chat through Skype. But it's different when you can actually hear your loved ones voice.

She wanted to tell me about a letter she wrote to our Bria through facebook.

It's so good that I wanted to share it here with you all.

I literally wept while reading it. Not that it's mushy 'n gushy but the simple fact that Bria is loved so much and many family and friends take the time to think about her. Well, part of the letter did hit a soft spot of my heart with an arrow: "you have the best mother in the world" ... That....Right there, is what I hope to be someday! 

Here it is:

Of course this is probably all in hopes that Alexis will truly be her favorite auntie.   

But.... just the fact that she has 4 wonderful and amazing women as her aunts will be truly a blessing, and if Bria's at all like her mother, she will love them with an endless love.

5 weeks to go....

As much as I'm wanting to hold our little girl and not feel as though I am wobbling back and forth like some odd duck, I don't want this pregnancy to end. And it has to. Some day. I have loved myself more in this big-bellied-can't-bend-down body of mine that I have had the past 8 months. It's truly amazing, and if you're a Mom I'm sure you're nodding your head up and down (or if you had a horrible pregnancy-sickness, sore, etc.- reading this feeling like you can hit me in the head!).

I have 5 weeks to go.

5 Weeks!  

Here's the stats:

How far along: 35 weeks! 
Total weight gain: 20-24 lbs
Sleep: I have been sleeping better than I have been the past few weeks. I am getting up about 7 times a night though. 
Best Moment of the week: The Christmas program! 
Movement: TONS. They say that the movement is supposed to "slow down" but we have to remember she is Clint's daughter! She had been moving constantly. It's a nice comfort to feel her and know that she's growing healthy and is-hopefully-pretty happy and warm in my tummy :).
Stimulation: Seems to be everything now-a-days
Maternity Clothes: Nope. Not yet although I have been living in my yoga pants & Clint's shirts. But nope. No "maternity" clothes. 
Stretch Marks: N.O.N.E! Z.I.P! N.A.A.D.A!
Food Cravings: Nothing, really. I still really love my fruit! I had a pomegranate for the first time and it's was delicious!
Gender: Sweet, little, beautiful, baby girl! 
Labor Signs: I have had braxton hicks contractions the past few days and if they are any indication of true labor (only intensified by like, a million) I'm in for some serious pain! They have hurt!
Belly button in or out: In. For some odd reason, I'm hoping that sucker will pop though. I've always wanted to experience an out-y, although, it's nice that my belly button doesn't show through my shirts! 
What I miss: Being able to put on my socks without trouble
What I am looking forward to: Seeing family in 2 days and having a baby shower that my sister and mom are throwing for me!!!!!! 
Weekly Wisdom: Sleep and don't do too much! 
Milestones: less than 35 days until sweet baby girl - hopefully- will join the world!!

  
Me and baby bug 35 Weeks

12/15/2010

*Our baby bug is over 18 inches long and is around 5 1/2 lbs! No wonder Mama is feeling a little off-balance lately :) . Although baby bug isn't doing karate anymore, I am feeling her movements a lot more. Baby bugs kidneys  are fully developed and her liver can process some waste products! Most of her basic physical development is now complete *enter sigh of relief here* she'll spend the next few weeks putting on some weight!*

GROW BABY GROW!! 

Loved...

It's amazing how much love and affection are shown to our Bria already! This month has been full of packages from the post office from family and friends. It literally feels like it has been Christmas all month long. And it's an amazing feeling to know that our baby girl is loved so much! We have received several amazing gifts for her.

With my favorite one being so far....

A hand-sewn blanket from Oma Shultz:

Oma Shultz also gave us all of these clothes, and not to mention bibs :) :




Clint's sister also sent us some adorable outfits!!




Clint was very happy about her outfits this time...There was NO pink! All of these outfits, pink or not, are just as adorable!

We are blessed beyond words!

34 Weeks!

It's upon us again that I write yet another update on this whole pregnancy bit. However, I think it's vital that I at least post something since it has been about a week and a half! I've been far to busy with college and work to even log into my account! Sheesh. But, my friends and family I am almost done!! So, without any further nonsense ramblings....Here is the recap of the week:

Baby Bria,

You now weigh about 4-5 lbs, which is the weight of a cantaloupe! You are also around 18 inches in length! Already you are a big girl :)...Your precious skin is as smooth as it has ever been! 

Keep on growing baby! We can't wait to meet you...

-Love your Mama!

How far along? 34 weeks! 

Total weight gain/loss: Last time I checked, I gained 18 lbs. I think that was two weeks ago, so I probably have gained a little more since the little princess is growing so rapidly! 

Sleep: I have a routine now. I get up around 2:30-3:00 in the morning and stay up for an hour and then fall back asleep-which makes me feel exhausted throughout the day! I plan on sleeping a.lot when I get to Ketchikan and am waiting for baby to arrive! 

Best moment of the week: when I had my last class of Curriculum Development ED664!! 

Movement: To give you a picture of what it may feel like, imagine a tiny hand grabbing a hold of one of your ribs and squeezing! It may be a small hand, but ribs are precious little bones! With the rib-grabbing and twirling around it's been wonderfully painful! 

Stimulation: The dogs barking get her all wired up as well as good 'ole chocolate milk! 

Maternity Clothes: None anymore. I can't fit into my maternity jeans :( ...They were size small though. I live in my black stretchy pants!

Stretch marks: I hope I don't jinx myself, but as of right now I have been very blessed and have not received any stretch marks! Although, I am on my third jar of vitamin E and cocoa butter lotion! 

Food cravings: nada! Except for Organic Italian Soda in Blood Orange. Sounds weird, but Ketchikan Safeway has it and it's delicious! I was fortunate enough to have a bottle because a sweet friend sent a care package! 

Gender: girl, girl, girl!! 

Labor Signs: none this week! 

Belly button in or out: In and stretched!

What I miss: Running! 

What I am looking forward to: seeing my feet again! 

Weekly wisdom: sleep, sleep, sleep! 

Milestones: If the babe is born, she will be healthy and will be able to breathe on her own and with minimal health complications! 

Mama and lil' one 34 weeks! 

*please excuse the messiness of me! This was done right after class around 9:00 p.m. but I refuse to let another week go by without an update and picture** 

I'm spoiled!

Clint just pinched me because I was looking at *my new camera* on the computer screen again!!

 

Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens

We bought this on Friday. Unfortunately we didn't get a great deal but it was totally worth it and I don't even have it yet! Clint agreed to buy this camera for me so we can document our baby's life. Now, of course we can document her life with the camera that we have had for the past couple of years but there is so much more with this camera! 

Be prepared to see some amazing photos this winter when it arrives :) ... Eeeek!! 

32 Weeks + 2 Days!

Sorry this is a little late, but I was enjoying my Wednesday and Thanksgiving day with my husband, doggies, and some good friends :) ... We had a wonderful day yesterday! Around 1:30 we went over to our friends house and had a superb dinner with ham, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, yams with marshmellows, rolls and some wonderful pumpkin and pecan pie! After, we played a game called Pickle where you have cards with nouns on them and try to make a story. It was very fun. We also did a Thanksgiving game where there was a piece of paper with a letter of the alphabet in a bowl. You choose a letter and have to come up with something that you are thankful for starting with the letter. It was very fun and I am thinking of starting this tradition when our baby is older.

I hope you guys had a wonderful day whether you celebrated giving thanks or not.

Here is the 32 week recap:

*Baby girl weighs about 3.75 Lbs. and is about 16.7 inches long and taking up a.lot of space in my uterus! I'm gaining about a Lb. a week and roughly half of that goes to my baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to a half of her birth weight during the next seven weeks as she fattens up for survival in the outside world! She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair!  Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up*

-Baby Center.com

Baby weighs just as much as a jicama! 

My Info: 
 
How far along? 32 weeks 2 days.
Total weight gain/loss: 18 lbs.
Sleep: I have had a terrible cold and a back pain that hasn't gone away yet, so N.O.N.E
Best moment of the week: When Clint and I were hugging each other before work, he felt the baby kick.
Movement: Tons. She has been moving a lot throughout the day and not very much at night. Some say, that this will be the pattern for when they are here. I hope that's true because if it is, our little girl is going to be very well behaved and sleep through the night!
Maternity clothes: Nope, just the pair of jeans every once in a while.
Stimulation: Chocolate and Clint's voice.
Food Cravings: None
Gender: girl...girl...girl
Labor Signs: None
Belly button in or out: Stretched and in.
What I miss: running!
What I am looking forward to: In three weeks, we'll be home for Christmas!
Weekly Wisdom: Be thankful.
Milestones: Clint is able to feel baby girl kick and move easily now!

H*A*P*P*Y* T*H*A*N*K*S*G*I*V*I*N*G !!!!

Thankful

In the spirit of being thankful this week I wanted to share what Clint has posted outside of his classroom.



This about melted my heart when I saw this! How amazing is it that Clint is going to be a daddy?!  It's the most wonderful blessing I could ask for!

My Life..

This has been my life since September:

 I am so thankful and so overwhelmed that in three weeks it will all be over and I will be happily back to blogging on a regular basis. But for now, I don't have the energy nor the time--not to mention I'm coming down with a cold and my whole body aches :( to the point where I was in bed all.weekend.long--to be blogging everyday. I'll stick with the weekly updates from now until I'm done with the semester then I'll be back full-blast!

31 Weeks!

Just a quick update because I am slammed with homework, work, and house chores :( ... BUT, the good news is that it will all slow down in 3 weeks as I am almost done with my first semester of my Master's program *insert dance and music here*!!!

Here we go!

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

How far along? 31 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: 20 lbs
Sleep: None. Still the same as last week :( ...
Best moment of the week: When one of my preschool students said, "I can't wait for your beautiful baby!"
Movement: all.the.time! I can actually see my stomach moving as Bria is shifting around in there.
Stimulation: Still daddy's voice... and the dogs barking! Hopefully she will be used to them when she comes out.
Maternity Clothes: None but some jeans.
Stretch Marks: NONE!!! Thank you Vitamin E :)
Food Cravings: None really. Just eating everything!
Gender: Sweet girl.
Labor Signs: I have had some braxton hicks contractions...Only had a couple this week.
Belly Button in or out: In and s.t.r.e.t.c.h.e.d.
What I miss: Being able to get up and down off the floor easily.
What I am looking forward to: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years, and baby's arrival!
Weekly Wisdom: Give all your troubles and worries to the Lord. He takes them all away! Trust me. I know from personal experience from this week :).
Milestones: I am in single digits now baby! Only 9/10 more weeks!

Here are the 31 week pictures:

Daddy Love

When I checked Facebook this morning, I saw a nice little snippet that my daddy left me:








There is nothing like starting your day off with a nice note and a Pumpkin Spice Latte! 

I love you Dad!! 

Shutterfly!

Living in rural Alaska, sometimes you miss the novelties of life such as going to Wal-Mart and printing out your favorite pictures from favorite weekend adventures, or the funny things your dogs have done. I can't tell you how many Cd's I have that are filled with endless memories.

This is where Shutterfly.com has been a life saver! I have used Shutterfly.com since I was a senior in high school ordering my senior pictures. They are that good!

Every year I want to send out Christmas cards to family and friends, but with the busyness of life, work, school I have not had the chance to since Clint and I first got together.

Here is our Christmas card from 2007:

 

This year, I'm making an elaborate effort to get a Christmas card out. Although we won't actually have Bria with us, she will be reflected in my ever-ginormous belly! It really is hard to choose just one! 

Here are some amazing cards from Shutterfly: 

Merry Memories Charteuse Christmas Card:

Bright Lights Christmas Card:

Go ahead! Go check out the endless options for Christmas and Holiday cards here...Did I mention this is where we are getting Bria's birth announcements too? I can't wait!

Take a look! These are so precious!!


Become a member and you get amazing discounts! This year I received 50 FREE prints for signing up, and also received an email offer that said $10 off my entire order! It's a sweet, sweet deal. Plus, right now if you are a blogger they are giving a promo code for 50 free Holiday Cards!! Just click this link: 50 free Holiday Cards and you'll get signed up!

Happy Sunday!

What's in a Name?

Seriously. Deciding on a name for our baby girl has been probably the hardest thing to do during this pregnancy. I mean, to be given this duty as first time parents, knowing that our baby girl is going to live with this name forever-unless she absolutely despises it-is a little daunting. Actually it's not just a little daunting. It's very intimidating. Very.

While we had written down names in my journal since we first starting talking about when we would start having little ones (back in 2008), we never came to the conclusion until a couple of weeks ago.

I think the name we picked out is perfect. I think it's going to fit our baby girl in a way we could only imagine.

The names from this post that we had in mind:
*Sage
*Ava
*Sidney
*Bria
*Arianna (this one is my favorite so far)
*Saveah (Su-vey-ah)

Drum Roll Please.........

 



So, what does Bria and Eden mean?!






What about her middle name? Well, here is the meaning:







 So there ya' go! Bria Eden is no doubt going to be a strong, virtuous, honorable, exaulted and cute and jovial baby who is cool. When she's older, she's going to be a little delight who is a pleasure to be around. When she's an adult she's going to be a pretty, sexy woman who is glamourous and oozes confidence!

Yup. That's our baby girl in a nutshell :). I couldn't be more happy, excited or pleased to announce her name!

Buddy Reading!

It's been a while since I shared anything that was school related, and I'm so excited to share this particular activity with you. Clint asked if it would be okay if his kids came down to our classroom (see, we are in a different building from the rest of the school) and read to us! It was a no brainer and I instantly said "YES!" exactly in that tone.  It was very nice to have older kids read to my younger kids and it was nice to see the interaction between the two age groups! At the end, Clint read a book called Do Not Build a Frankenstein to both groups. He made it fun and interactive and engaging- it was also amazing to see that my three and four year olds sat quietly while he read. It's usually quite a struggle to keep them seated for an entire book!

Enjoy :)...















This will be an activity that we will do every Tuesday! It will be a great opportunity for both classes to participate in Language Experience!