Fair Time!

I thought I was going to have to miss the fair this year. It is usually further in September, but this year it was in August. Since Baby Stillwell is due in a few weeks I assumed I would either be too pregnant or have a newborn - so I had Nathan all prepped to go alone. Well, I am glad they moved it up! I love watching Noah get excited about the rides and I was feeling good so I am glad I didn't miss out on it.

My Dad always likes to take the grand kids on armband night so we met him and my brother and his kids there. Noah loved his arm band - he kept showing it to me over and over. I wanted one of my brother's kids to ride with Noah, but they were off doing their own thing and Noah was growing impatient so I let him ride alone. I wasn't excited about it - but of course he did fine. He just doesn't seem big enough for all of that! He seemed to be having a good time and then after his 3rd ride he kept saying "bye bye". So, I picked him up and he fell asleep on me - 2 hours before his bedtime! I think the rides got to him - so we went home. Maybe he knew that his momma didn't want to stay there all night and I was getting tired so he took one for the team ;) Either way - we had a good time and I kept thinking how next year I will have a 3 year old and a one year old! That should be entertaining!

OMG Mom! Look at this goat!

"Momma chickens!"

Noah's first ride by himself!

Noah and his cousins Greyson and Savannah :)

Noah and Dada on the carousel

Noah got on this ride, I snapped this picture, and he climbed off
before it started and decided he was done riding!

Wore out boy still showing off that armband!

36 Weeks - the final stretch!

I am going to the doctor weekly now. I went last Friday and had the lovely Group B Strep test done and got to visit with Nurse Buchanan (my favorite nurse at Millard-Henry and she retired and just happened to be there helping out that day and did my appointment!). She wanted to make sure we had a carseat and were registered at the hospital - both done. She let me hear the babys heartbeat - 152 bpm and it is head down and ready to go! Now for the highlights:
*  I have gained around 28 pounds. I am still 7 pounds less than my total weight gain with Noah, but catching up fast!

* I have had the "flesh belt" in a few of my "I am not leaving the house" outfits - my bottoms and tops seem to need to be reintroduced :) Thankfully I think I can make it the rest of the way with what maternity clothes I have - I am really getting tired of the same old outfits though. I am used to my wider selection of my regular clothes.
* I am still craving cheerios but this week I have wanted mini chocolate donuts (by wanted, I mean I ate an entire package all by myself over the weekend). I am still not much on steaks, but other than that I don't have any aversions.
* I was so glad the baby was head down this week. The nurse asked if I had alot of kicks in the upper part of my belly and she pointed right where it kicks all the time! They told me if the baby doesn't kick at least 10 times in 4 hours to go to the ER - I am pretty sure this baby kicks more than 10 times every half hour!
* I did have a little swelling last week - just puffy ankles that went away the next day. I really thought I would be way more swollen this pregnancy because of the heat, but thankfully not!
* Thankfully the ace bandage helped with my hip and then the baby adjusted so it took pressure off my hip bone and now it is just general pressure - which is way more manageable.

* I started having contractions off and on last week, which is normal. I am hoping the baby holds off until September though - I want to make sure it's lungs are fully developed and he/she is ready to be here and another selfish reason - I like Septembers birthstone better than Augusts - HA!

Looking pretty close to the same now!

While Dada's Away...

Momma and Noah will play! This weekend Nathan went on a weekend trip to the White River. Since I am almost due to have our baby, I decided against a eight hour round trip and I wouldn't have been able to canoe. I told Nathan I will need him close by for the next few months so to go and have a good time and relax. So, Nathan went to enjoy himself and I enjoyed some one on one time with Noah.  I am really trying to spend lots of extra quality time with Noah before the baby gets here for both our sakes. I really want to enjoy him as my first child and as having an only child and I want him to enjoy it too.

We had a weekend full of watching movies, playing with trains, coloring giant boxes, building towers, playing at the park, happy meals, riding bikes, breakfast for dinner (one of Noah's favorites), chalkboards, and "working" on Noah's truck and backhoe! It was so much fun! Thankfully the weather was nice and I felt great so I was able to keep up with him. He is getting funnier and more grown up by the day. He is repeating everything I say now - it is crazy to have actual conversations with him now! I am going to try my hardest to still keep going and doing alot with him once the new baby is here - one of my biggest fears is him missing out (or me missing out on getting to see) on getting to see and do things he enjoys.

We were so glad to see Dada home on Sunday! We had a great Momma and Noah weekend but we always want Dada around!

Look momma - the slide!

He is getting so brave at the playground now!

Loving having a flat yard to play in!

Cheesing on every base!

Put me in coach!

My future t-baller!

Maternity Pictures

I love pictures! It is my thing. They are so fun to take and look at later - just having those memories is awesome to me. I was excited when my dad got me a baby photography plan for my birthday with Ann Price Photography (we love her) - so that covers 5 sessions for our new baby. The first one was the maternity session. I have literally been writing down and searching for ideas of what I wanted for the look of these pictures. Our photographer had an awesome location that we decided on months ago - outdoors with a barn and pretty scenery. So, I worked on poses and putting together good outfits for it. I love how they all turned out! I must admit, I was a little worried about them when I left. Noah was acting like a 2 year old and was much more interested in being outside than sitting still for pictures. So, we had to nix alot of the pictures I wanted with him. I spent alot of time trying to get him to participate, so it got darker faster than I was ready for it too! But, as always, Ann surprised me with some amazing shots that I was sure were impossible with the chaos and lighting! I was sad to think this may be our last time to take maternity pictures. We want one more, but we are getting older and our house cannot hold another child after this one, so we would need to move (which we talk about anyway) but I want to be done having babies in the next 3 years or so. So, hopefully it is not our last time, but if it is, I am very happy with how these memories were captured. Here are a few of my favorites (it was hard to pick):

Stillwell 3 Weekend

Friday night we decided to go out to eat - we have been trying to do this a little more lately since Noah is being more cooperative and we won't be able to as easily once the new baby gets here. We went to a restaurant we go to often, and love, and ended up leaving and going somewhere else. They have a special seating area near a soda fountain (an old time looking ice cream parlor) with televisions (always on cartoons). So, we usually sit there with Noah because he likes all the lights, quarter games, and to watch cartoons. That part of the restaurant was empty - so even though the line of people waiting to be seated was long, I told the host that we wanted to sit in there, thinking maybe the people waiting were in parties too large to fit in the booths, preferred tables, or preferred to sit in the dining area. Well, some of the people waiting heard me tell him that and threw a fit because they had been waiting and they would have sit there if they had known that was an option! So, the host told us we would have to wait until everyone else was seated before he could seat us in there even though the seats were empty! Noah starts screaming "eat, eat!" and crying - so I told him we couldn't wait that long and we left. I was trying to be nice about it, but that was just a little much. So, we went to a little BBQ place and had the whole restaurant to ourselves! It was nice and the food was good. From there we had to run to Wal-Mart so I could get a neutral colored crib sheet and mattress pad for the new baby - I am gathering things up here and there :)

Saturday was a cleaning lazy day for us. I vacuumed all the floors and stairs and got the carseat, swing, and baby clothes out and put away. I even washed the carseat and swing covers too - I had some nesting energy going on! The rest of the day and after Church on Sunday was spent playing with Noah. I am trying to get some good quality time in with him before the baby gets here. We built towers with legos, played with potato heads, played trains, and watched movies (Footloose was on and he danced and danced to it and insisted I join him! Thank God for mini-blinds!) - it was awesome! I told him that I hoped he always will want to come play with me and he just looked at me and laughed and fell over - I will take that as a maybe :) Sunday night Dada took him for a ride on the dozer to help him straighten up the driveway - he loves it! I love watching them together on there - just something about a father and son spending time like that that is amazing to watch. We had a good last weekend as the Stillwell 3 - not many of those left!

He is all about building towers now!

My two loves :)

He is having no fun at all - can't you tell?

Baby Stillwell's Nursery

I love picking out baby furniture! I love it because so far, knock on wood, I know exactly what I am looking for and can find it. I am not real picky - I like dark wood and certain styles, but for the most part I am easy to please. My husband on the other hand - very picky! I blame his grandparents who owned a furniture store (that he worked at growing up) for this! He can find a flaw in most every piece of furniture I showed him! Finally, after shopping online for months and going to every store I could find, I had to give him a deadline. I told him he had a week to find something he liked or I was just ordering what I liked. This was a Saturday. He said he would only need until Tuesday! HA! The full week past and he said he forgot about it - he is such a procrastinator! Well, time was ticking so I just went for it.

Well, I went online to order the set I had decided on and the dresser was indefinitely back ordered! (I then sent a text to Nathan telling him "crib gone :(" to which he replied "what crib? - see my frustration here? What crib? Seriously? I am 8 months pregnant!). I decided to call and see if they could tell me what my options were since the one I wanted was not available in the set I wanted (which I had actually decided on because it was the July specially priced set and the crib was free!). Well, they were very nice and offered to give me a discount on a different set since the one I wanted was no longer available and it was on sale! So, I ended up with the set I really wanted for not much more than the one I was originally going to order!

A week later and me guiding a delivery man by phone on every turn to our house and my furniture was here! I immediately opened it and started putting it together! I was hoping maybe the dressers were assembled and just needed a few things added - wrong! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, was pre-assembled. I had to put drawer glides on, put drawers together, make shelves, everything! It really went by fast though. I put the changing table together all by myself, and Nathan helped me some with the dresser and bed. I figured the changer would be the easiest and the bed hardest, but I was wrong! The bed only took 30 minutes where the changer took me about 2 hours! I was so excited to get it all put together and arranged (which of course took some negotiating between Nathan and I - God is funny like that) :)

We painted the room orange when we moved in and I still love the color. It goes really good with the rug! My mom bought me this rug when I moved into my first apartment to cover up the green shag carpet! Who would have guessed it would make such a cute nursery rug later! I think the furniture color goes so good with the rug and the walls! I love how it turned out! Now, all that is left is to get the newborn tub of clothes out and in the drawers and we will be ready for baby!

Me putting drawers together

Nathan gladly helping out :)

Noah loves baby's new bed!

View as you walk in the door

Left wall - changing table (the mat will be added)

Back wall - rocker and bookshelf

Right wall - dresser and bed

The crib - I love the headboard!

The rest of the right wall and closet - Noah knows his old toys are in there and
has to drag them out every time we are in there!

Here is a video tour of the nursery I made for my co-workers :)

34 Weeks!

This is my last week to not go to the doctor! I will go every week after this until I have a baby! EEEEEEK! That is very exciting! Things are falling into place and other than needing to get a few things out of storage or from the store, we are ready! (Ready as we will ever be anyway).

*  I have gained around 24 pounds (it goes between 23 and 25 daily). I am still 10 pounds less than my total weight gain with Noah - so we shall see how much more I pack on!

* I am looking pretty pregnant and silly in anything I wear lately. My belly goes straight out so much that it makes all my shirts hang funny! It is crazy how different your belly can be from one pregnancy to the next.

* I am over honey buns! I am finishing off the box I have of course - we can't be wasteful now can we?!  I am still loving watermelon and green seedless grapes! I ate an entire bag in one day! I have read that your body craves what it needs. I am glad I am craving so much healthy stuff, even if it is strange to me! I want cheerios all the time - I had two bowls for dinner the other night. Nathan sent me a text asking what was for dinner and when I replied that I had Cheerios he said "seriously?" - HA! The baby wants what it wants!

* The baby is still moving around alot. I want to say it is horizontal in my belly alot, but it may just be stretching it's legs out to each side - but my belly will get pushed out both ways at once - it is crazy! My doctor said it should run out of room to move so much by 36 weeks and be in position - lets just hope that is head down! I am not wanting a c-section for many reasons! (Cost - we have to pay cash and that doubles the cost, recovery time - once you have had a regular quick delivery with easy recovery you don't want to experience the other, and surgery scares me - I have never had surgery on anything other than getting my wisdom teeth out! I will for sure do it if I have to, but it is not my first choice at all!

* I have not had any swelling in the last 2 weeks! (Knock on wood!) Hopefully I won't get any or at least not much until I am ready to deliver.

* I had my 33 week appointment last Friday. I got to hear that sweet heartbeat again and measured right on track. I told my doctor about the hip pain I had been having and he pushed around on my hip and said the baby is sitting so low that it is popping my hip bone up and in - ouch! He recommended a hip band to push it back in or the cheaper option, an ace bandage wrapped tightly around my hip joints under my clothing. (I have been wearing an ace bandage since and it has actually helped alot). I told him I already feel alot of pressure and he said "welcome to your second baby" - ha! He also verified that the burning/raw feeling on the inside of my stomach is my muscles tearing. Man, this paragraph makes pregnancy sound lovely, right? It really isn't that bad - you have to expect some uncomfortable things when you have a human being growing in your belly. I am tough and can handle it - I just had to make sure that none of these were signs of anything else.