6 Month Mark!

Today was the first day that I actually felt big and pregnant!

It was a hard day at preschool as I was constantly having to run to the restroom, and having difficulty getting up and down off the floor- hence the post that was before this one about smiling.

It was a challenge, one that I'm sure is just bound to get worse! But in retrospect, it's a challenge that I can't wait for! It just means our Sweet Pea Baby Girl is growing. :)

Without too much more ramblings...We're off to the good stuff:

How far along? 24 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Still no idea, but I'm sure it's a ton!
Sleep: I have been sleeping incredibly well. Clint has mentioned that I have been cuddling with him a lot lately. I have no recollection of this, but I like it :)
Best moment this week: Monday night, Clint made dinner (like he does most nights) and took care of everything while I soaked in a warm bath with a candle and my meditation music, thinking about our amazing future we have ahead of us. It was so relaxing and took away all my stresses about work and school! What a Sweet, Sweet man I have for a husband.
Food Cravings: Non this week. The sweet cravings have finally subsided and I'm back to my snackage of apples, and pears :)
Gender: Girl!!
Labor Signs: None
Belly button in or out: In, but I have decided to let you know Clint's favorite thing to do; he proceeds to stick his finger in my belly button and twirl it around making a "wheee" noise! As ridiculous as that sounds, it's hilarious! My belly button is H.U.G.E.
What I miss: Running
What I am looking forward too: Besides the obvious (i.e.: future with our baby girl finally here, and seeing family in December and January). I'm excited to get back into a rigorous workout regime while starting Karate! 
Weekly Wisdom:  I don't feel like I'm full of any wisdom at this point
Milestones: hitting the 6 month mark! I can't believe that in just 16 weeks (give or take-hopefully-just a few days) we will have our little girl in our arms!!! 

Here is what The Bump has to say about pregnancy during the 24th week:




Photo:

Do you ever feel?

Down in the dumps? I do.

So here you go.

Just a simple reminder.

Of where your smile is...



Photo credit here

It's Official!

I was so busy during my evening masters class last night. Not with the class, or homework-which I probably should have done instead-but with the baby registry!! We are officially getting prepared for little baby girl Shultz to arrive.  I put everything and anything in the cart that I thought we would (1) Need and (2) Would Like.  For those of you reading, and are already planning on getting some supplies for us, this is a good list to get your ideas flowing.

This is not a post asking for you to purchase items.  It's simply a post to let you know we have a list for those who are already planning on getting our baby girl stuff.

So, here's how you go about it.

Go to Amazon.com 

Click on the Gifts and Wishlists tab on top



Once you Click on that, you will be directed to this page:




In the top right corner, there is a box that says, "Find Wish Lists and Registries".




Make sure you Click on Baby and type in Clint's name. Or my name, either one will work.

You will then be given a list of everything we need :) Hope that helps some of you! Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts in advanced.

"Just You Wait"

"Just you wait."

"Your time will come."

"Let me know if you still feel that way at 7 months."

These are all phrases I have heard throughout my pregnancy whether it be relating to my belly growing, my energy level, the way I eat, or the mood swings that are so popular among moms-to-be.  I kept thinking to myself Nah, it won't happen to me. 

But it did. It happened last night.

I stood at the sink after I finished doing dishes and I started bawling. Hyperventilating-type bawling! I had no idea what was wrong with me and then it hit me...She didn't move today. All the books and information out there says it may be too early to feel fetal movements consistently until you're past 28 weeks. I'm only 23 weeks. But being able to feel her everyday has been a miracle God has given me, and to think that it's gone, was heart-breaking!

I stood there, trying to find some composure, if there was any left. It took about two minutes. I finally stopped long enough to pray. Out loud. In my kitchen. Where our two dogs sit at my feet with their heads tilted and ears up. I prayed.

No sooner that I said "Amen" she started kicking like crazy. My stomach was moving like it was flipping upside down. I smiled. Not just a smirk-like smile. A Smile that literally touched my ears. 

Thank you Lord! Thank you for hearing me, even if it was this crazy-out-of-my-mind-silly-nonsense moment for me.

Thank goodness Clint was at practice, or he would have thought I am even more crazy than I already am!

Our baby girl is a healthy, happy baby and she's a blessing in our lives :)

23 weeks!

The days seem to be going by too fast! Too me, it feels like I just posted our 22 week recap!! I believe that this baby girl of ours is going to enter the world in no-time!

Instead of spending time on the computer, blogging. I'm going to go for a nice walk with my hubs and two pups today-so this will be quick!

How far along? 23 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: I have no idea! Don't really want to know at this point :)
Sleep: I have been sleeping okay. Ya, not fantastic or anything-my back is aching more and more...We'll see how the rest of the week goes!
Best moment this week: Surprisingly, it doesn't really have to do with the baby or pregnancy, but the fact that she is with us always is a blessing.  Clint and I went on a wonderful walk on Sunday, went to church (we have been going for a few weeks now) and had a wonderful dessert with some friends at their house. 
Food Cravings: I have been wanting cupcakes! (Hence the hilarious, or not so hilarious, post yesterday!)
Gender:  Beautiful baby girl!
Labor Signs: None at the moment
Belly button in or out: In
What I miss: I miss being able to get out of bed easily. Clint had to switch me spots so I didn't have to crawl over him in the middle of then night. He mentioned that I made funny grunting noises when I tried to get out of bed.  Hopefully those noises have stopped!
What I am looking forward to: Being able to spend the last few weeks of pregnancy with my family, and deliver in Ketchikan where my family can see her in her first few hours of life! I just pray Clint is going to be able to be there on time!
Weekly Wisdom: Be active!
Milestones: Picking out a name (a post will come later) for our baby girl! And, having her kick me in the ribs almost constantly when I'm in a college class.  Thanks, sweet little girl!

Here are the photos (they are actually taken at 22 weeks and 3 days):

Lessons about Life!

So, as we are growing a little one, and soon she will be in a world full of amazing goodness. There's just a couple things she needs to learn...

How to eat a cupcake.

Yes. Here is a tutorial on how to eat a cupcake.  Call me crazy/weird/funny/a dork, whatever it may be. But this is important!

Here we go:

Sunday in pictures...

Clint's still in Koyuk for a cross country meet.  We have been skyping all morning and it's been very comforting to talk with him without the cost of long distance!

It has been pretty mellow in this Shultz family household this weekend.

Saturday Clint left at 8:00am and I was working on homework/MAT papers all.day.long.-I had a blast (do you sense the sarcasm?)

I have been wanting to learn how to take better pictures with our DSLR for when baby girl comes...So we can fill our walls with poster-size canvas photos of her and our family together. I want to have a museum size amount of photos! Seriously. So, in order to actually like the photos that I hang on the wall. I have to learn how to use the camera. And fast. Do you realize it's only 4 months until she arrives?! Eeeek!

So for today, I have our Sunday in pictures :) ... With my attempt at being somewhat artistically creative.

Enjoy!

9:40am:



10:15am:



10:50am:



10:55am:



11:00am:
I heart my kitchen aide (thanks mom!)



11:15am:



11:30am:



12:00pm:



12:15pm:



12:45pm:



1:30pm:
I know it's not Halloween yet, but here I am...



2:00pm:



2:20pm:
Sierra ate her treat pretty quickly!



2:30pm:
Homework :(...



3:00pm:
Took a looonnng nap on the couch with my pups.

3:50pm:
Clint came home (didn't take any pictures)

6:00pm:
Dinner Time: Edwardson style:

Butterfly

As I am diligently trying to get through my coursework for my three masters classes this week, I find myself turning on firefox, and looking through the abundant amount of baby items out there! I cannot wait until the time comes where we can physically put stuff on our sweet baby. It's going to be amazing. After about an hour of getting my browsing done, and I am full of baby goodness-I can move on.  Slowly I am able to get one assignment done.

After that? It's back to fulfilling my study time with this:



Yup! I finished them...These are the next size up from the purple pair. By the time our baby girl is born, she's going to have a bazillion pairs of these and the like...

Clint would call me a butterfly as in I can't concentrate on one thing, that as soon as something pop into my head, I change directions...like a little butterfly.  But this? This is a positive butterfly moment.  Seriously.




I wish I could take credit for the pattern, but alas, I am not that creative! I found the pattern  here

Be on a look out for more of these cutie-patootie-booties!

22 Weeks!!

It's that time again :)...

22 Weeks!

Only 125 more days to go until we meet our little baby girl!

Here's the Q&A:

How far along? 22 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: surprising I didn't gain any weight this week-But my belly sure is progressing quite quickly!
Sleep: I have been waking up to the baby kicking everyday this week at 3:00AM. She's been active for about 10-15 minutes and then it's hard for me to get back to sleep. But when I do get those precious Zzzzz hours, its amazing!
Best moment this week: finding out that our little bundle of joy is a girl! And...More importantly I was able to see her again. It's an amazing feeling being able to see your growing baby actually inside  you. She was pretty darn cute!
Food Cravings: None. The salt craving is gone, but I've been eating a lot of fruits!
Gender: Girl!
Labor signs? None.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss? Sushi! Although, Clint made smoked salmon sushi for me the other night and it was oh.so.scrumptious!
What I am looking forward to: Actually, I am really looking forward to Clint being able to feel her kick. It's going to take my breath away.
Weekly Wisdom: Leave work at work and don't work at home! :) 
Milestones: Finding out we are having a baby girl (how many times have I said that in this post?!).

The photos: 

Don't mind my smile. and hair. and face. Okay, just look at the growing belly. I took a picture with the self-timer!

Reality....

Do you remember this post about how I wanted to wait until I got home from Nome to tell Clint we were having a baby girl? well, this sign, that's hanging on his classroom bulletin was how I was going to tell him!



I colored a DAD sign with purple (remember, there is no pink in this house) and yellow. If it were a boy I would have picked blue and green.

But here is the sign:

Multi-tasking

Just a quickie to show you my view tonight until 8:30pm!



*In my Curriculum and Development in Early Chilhood Programs class online
*Admiring our fresh fruit from Full Circle Farm!
*Reading the Chapters from this week
*Knitting something special - this also adds proof to what some may say about my lil' booties I made for our baby girl ;).

There you have it. My view until 8:30. 

Oh yeah, I have a yummy peach cobbler in my oven as we speak I type!! 

More Names...

When I got back to school today, the preschoolers asked me, "what kind of baby are you having?". They were all very excited when I told them it was a baby girl.  They then started to discuss (among themselves- I wasn't in on the conversation) the names that she is going to be called! Here they are:

Student #1: " I'm going to call her Lovey"

Student #2: "No! Her name is Chubby Cheeses" (which, I think he meant to say Chubby Cheeks, but I don't know, it could have been Chucky Cheeses as well!)  :)...

Student #3: "No, no, no! I'm going to call her Eevie"

So there you have it. Some other possible names for our little baby girl.  

Pretty Names...

Since we know that lil' baby shultz is a pretty girl. We have some names we would like to share with you.  Let us know your thoughts...

*Sage
*Ava
*Sidney
*Bria
*Arianna (this one is my favorite so far)
*Saveah (Su-vey-ah)

We are still looking at the middle names for our sweet one too! 

Tiaras and Baby Dolls!!!

It's funny how you think about the most creative ways, and the most entertaining ways to tell people some really good news. Believe me. I had the cutest idea on how I was going to tell Clint we were having a baby girl and wanted to wait until I got home-but of course, I was emotional while talking to him on the phone and mid sentence I blurted out, "we're having a baby girl!!". At first I was nervous on what his reaction might be-but he was happy and told me he feels blessed to have a baby girl on the way. That right there, is why I married him. He is perfect in that he knows exactly what to say, when to say it, and how to say it.

It is. It's a blessing that we are having a baby girl and we couldn't be happier!

Before I show you the pictures of our precious sweat pea. I want to tell you that this baby of ours is the most beautiful creature on the planet and she hasn't even left my womb. The technician even said so.  The first thing we looked at was her face, and the technician told me, "My gosh, you are going to have one beautiful baby.  I have seen a lot of ultrasounds and she's a beauty!" My first reaction as Duh! Of course she is.  She's our baby! And then, I was thinkin' that this lady says that to all the first time mamas. But I'll take it anyway. Because it's the truth.

Here she is:



One of her precious footsies... A chubby one at that!



And...Because some of you may need actual proof:




There you have it! A baby girl shultz is on her way!


Because I am super excited about this baby of ours and we finally know the baby is a she I have pulled out my knitting needles and yarn and started to work.  And what do you know? I have already finished her first pair of baby booties! Now remember how I said Clint and I are not a fan of pink? Well, we love purple! So here you go:





Yes. I made those! I am super proud and ready to make my next pair...Mmm...Nice yellow ones sound good to me :)


Dear Baby Girl,

It's amazing that I was able to see your beautiful face again on the ultra-sound screen. You are precious! When I feel you in my tummy I now have a picture of what you may look like when you enter the world. However, I know that you're going to be a hundred times more beautiful than we could ever imagine!  Stay cozy and keep growing :)

This is going to be short, but I want you to know that already, you are the twinkle in my eyes and the center of your daddy's world. We love you more than anything.

Love, 
You're Mama