Christmas Spirit

There has been a lot of talk about trying to find the Christmas spirit this year. I admit it does seem hard. Being unemployed does not give you much money to buy gifts for people. I love buying people gifts and seeing their expression when they open a great gift. This year christmas will be small but it can still be good.

We are just about done redoing our house before Christmas and the baby comes. Which is a relief, I am pretty sure Damien does not want to see another can of paint for quite a while. But on the plus side it looks really nice.

The  babies room is just about done, and we can move all her stuff into her room and start organizing it, Its been sitting in gift bags since the shower in our dining room. I can not wait to decide what we want to bring her home in and what we want her to wear for her first pictures in the hospital. 

Time is flying by and I am already almost 34 weeks. Not to much longer and she will be here. And frankly we cannot wait to meet her. We are nervous but very excited. We are ready to meet our princess.

She is still a moving machine, if babies are supposed to slow down in movement as they get bigger she obviously never got the memo..lol but that is quite all right. She can move all she would like. 

I have got a total of 3 presents so far, 2 are for Damien and as all he asked for were Marvel TShirts that fit him I think he will be quite pleased. I want to get him a couple more before Christmas, also his birthday is the day after Christmas so I have to get him something special for that too.

My friend Carrie is coming over tomorrow and we are making Sponge Candy, I have never made it before so she is teaching me, which should be fun. Well Off to BINGO with my mom, Hope we win that would take the pressure of no money for Christmas gifts away immediately. But even if we don't I am sure we will have fun anyway.

More tomorrow, as my next doctors appointment is tomorrow.

Til Then
<3 Shelly

Edit to add. Guess the Christmas Spirit is out there! We were told at the beginning of the year Damien's job was not doing Christmas bonuses this year.. He just got a surprise one, which was a decent amount, while we are not going to go crazy, it defiantly takes the pressure off a bit and we can have somewhat of a better Christmas..  I am so happy for him, He deserves it, he has been going in an hour early every day without being asked to and working his butt off.. It is nice they finally gave him something in appreciation.

Little Miss Dimples is One!!

Technically she turns 1 on wenesday but her party was tonight.. I can not believe its almost been a year from ..

 

Katie (2 days old) 12-16-10

To this :

Katie 12-10-11 (Almost 1)

Happy Almost Birthday Little Miss Dimples.. Auntie Shelly Loves you.. and pretty soon you will have a little cousin to play with.. 

Shelly <3

(pardon the shiner on her eye, the hazards of learning how to walk..ha ha)

32 weeks 2 days

So we are heading to the homestretch. 8 more weeks to go. That is if baby girl wants to come when they thing she will. It is all up to her. We finally decided on the color for her room after changing our minds 4 or 5 times. We bought the paint and started painting it yesterday so no turning back now.

I am taking pics as we go along so I will be sure to do a post on her room once it is all done. It is very girly so she better come out a girl as we are being told she is..lol.. not to mention all the girly clothes we have. 

I'm not worried though, I know she is a girl. This past Saturday Damien and I went through the 8 hour one day childbirth class at the hospital we are delivering at. All day 8am to 5pm. But I am glad we did it we learned a bunch and it was nice to have a tour of the hospital wing and nursery so you know where all this craziness will take place.

Our hospital wing seems smaller then some I've seen but still nice. It is all becoming quite surreal, esp. after the childbirth class.  I am pretty sure I am going for the epidural but I will try to do my best before we have to. Pain and me are not friends but I just have to remember that after all the pain I get a beautiful baby girl to take home and love.

Damien is really going to be a great dad, he is so excited. It's hard for him at times being his dad had passed away back in 2005 and his dad would have loved, I mean absolutely loved a grandchild and adored a little girl, since he had all boys. He will always be with us in spirit, and Leighla will know how great her grandfather was.

8 more weeks, only 2 months to go.. It is crazy how fast this has seemed to fly by. But am having a pretty easy pregnancy and can not wait to meet my babygirl.. Soon she will be here. and then you all will be subjected to 5 billion pictures of her! lol..

Til Next time 

Shelly<3

The Baby Shower

The baby shower turned out better then I could have ever expected. My Group of girls came together and made it run so smoothly I couldn't thank them enough for all the help. I am lucky to have such a wonderful group of people in my life..

 

 

 

This was not taken at the shower but it is the most updated pic of all of us

There were so many people that showed up for me! I was amazed by everyone's generosity!

The gift table

I had so many things to open it took over an hour, now the shower was not about presents though I appreciated every one. It was about the people. Some people I have not seen in years came to my shower and I loved seeing them all again.

As well as family. This was the first time that both sides of the family mine and Damiens were all at one gathering and it went wonderfully.

We had enough food to feed 2 armys, in fact we brought a ton home and still eating it,

These are just a fraction of the food we had..

All my girls chipped in and bought us a high chair! Which was great. We did not get alot of big items, so we still need to go out and get the important things like a car seat, stroller, baby monitor. among other things. My mom is getting us the crib/changing table and dresser, and his mom is going to get us the playpen/pack and play thing. 

One thing we did get was plenty of cute outfits. This is going to be one styling baby. She has an outfit for everyday and then some!

It says "My daddy says I can't date til Im 25" Damien fully agrees lol..

We also got alot of awesome homemade blankets and other homemade items.. 3 different diaper cakes..

Damiens mom made this one

My moms best friend made this one

And Damien's best friends wife made this one

We also got this awesome wreath from Damien's Aunt

We haven't taken any of them apart yet but they were all wonderful. Homemade items are so nice.

My mom's best friend also made us this buggy to put books in, we asked everyone to bring a book instead of a card, though I got many cards also, we have a nice collection of books to start her off with. 

And she made the cake, all homemade, she mispelled her name but that was fine!

The Grandma's to be did an excellent job of putting this shower together.

Damien's Mom, Me and My Mom

All in all I could not have asked for a better day. we recorded some messages to the baby from guests so we can enjoy that for years to come and even show it to leighla Once she is born..

I am pretty sure I had the best baby shower ever. and can't thank all that helped enough.

Now to wait until January 28th to see what our little princess looks like. I can not wait! I am going to cherish every moment with her and love her to pieces..

She will defiantly be surrounded by love from everyone!

Til Next Time

<3 Shelly

28 weeks

Good Bye 2nd Trimester.. Hello 3rd! We are in the homestrech.. 

28 weeks, taken today

More tomorrow!

27 weeks 3 days

Hi all, sorry for the long time between posts. We have gotten a new internet router and my laptop has been giving me issues connecting correctly..

I had my next OB appointment Monday and everything is great. I did my glucose test last week and my results were perfect, I'm not anemic, as they check that half way through. And everything is going great with this growing baby of mine.

My baby shower is less then 3 weeks away and I am getting excited now. I hope we get a lot of stuff we need,  less that we will actually have to buy ourselves. There should be about 60 people total there.

Leighla moves like crazy and I am enjoying every minute of it, because before to long there will be no more belly moving and a little baby in my arms. I honestly can't wait. We are making progress on the house, we finally have our room's walls repaired and painted, next we have to change out electrical sockets are they are still 2 prong instead of the more standard 3 prong. That should be an easy fix. then we move our stuff in there and work on the babies room. There is one outlet in that room that needs to be fixed my an electrition and painting and that will be done. 

We are hoping to get that done before the shower so we have somewhere to put all her stuff that she will get.

We also have a childbirth class we signed up for on December 3rd. It's just a one day class but we should learn all we need to know, hopefully.

Besides that nothing much else is going on.. 

everyone comments on how small I look for being almost 7 months. But per the doctor I am measuring just fine and have gained weight steadily; starting at 96 and now am at 112. 

26 weeks

I do see the difference even if other people don't see it as much. Clothes that fit me fine last week, not so much this week.. Some woman get upset by pregnancy weight gain, I find it funny. I have always been the type of person who could not gain weight even when I tried, so having this belly is fun for me and I feel the difference. I am *knock on wood* having a pretty easy pregnancy, really no issues at all. Besides baby girl likes to kick my right ribs. But that I can deal with.

I have alot of pictures to post but don't want to push my laptop.lol. hopefully it will continue to cooperate with me.

Til Next time

Shelly <3

25 weeks 4 days

I can not believe that I am over half way through with this pregancy. *Knock on Wood* it has been pretty good so far, minus the first 3 months of getting sick.

This baby is a mover, a big one, but that is very reassuring for me, If I can feel her move all over all the time that means she is just fine. Now I would be worried if I did not feel her Bounce around in there.

Because that is what I am convinced she is doing, no kicking or punching she is straight up using my body as her own personal bounce house.. lol.. But that is just fine.

I had my next ob appointment on monday and everything is looking great. The doctor was listening to her heartbeat and little girl decided to move all the way to the other side of my stomache making her chase her with the doppler. lol The doctor was like you have a mover all right. She said when they are that active inside they tend to come out the same way. So we are in for it.. lol

As long as she stays healthy she can move all she pleases, Just stay away from my right rib cage that is the only real discomfort I have at times. at she seems to only bother that side for some reason. Luckily it's not all the time.

I am enjoying watching my stomach move now, It is amazing that I am growing a little person in there and that I can now feel and see her move is awesome. One month from today is my Baby Shower, I can not believe it has come up so quickly. It is going to be a big one too. We decided to do both sides together and invited almost 75 people in total, thinking some people would not be able to make it but not wanting to leave anyone out..

so far on my side, Everyone but 3 people have said they are coming. I am slightly overwelmed in a good way. I never knew I knew that many people or that they would actually want to attend a party like that for me and my little bouncing tigger. 

(esp today, she has been bouncing up a storm since 6am, taking small breaks)

It is going to be a little weird for me at this party, I am usually the one who likes to blend in with the background or the crowd and all the focus will be on me.. guess it is good practice for our wedding. lol.

which we were hoping to do in july of next year, but we may have to push it back to July 2013, all depends on money, we may not have the money only 7 months after our peanut is born, but we will see how it all works out. We have been together for 10 years it is basically a formality now, since we consider ourselves married already. But It would be nice to all have the same last name, as Leighla will have Damien's last name. and be nice to all be on the same health insurance if need be. I am hoping to get a job soon after the baby is born, but I am sure there will be a lapse of some sort where I do not have health insurance.

The baby will be covered under damien's so no worries there. We are lucky in the fact that both Grandma's do not work and can take turns and have already offered to watch our peanut once I get a job. My mom being right downstairs will be nice in the wintertime, she won't even have to go outside in the snow.

It is really coming close now, only 3 months to go, til we meet her. We are talking about what and who she will look like now, Will she have my blue eyes or Damien's Brown. Will she have alot of hair or be a little baldy. I think she will be tiny and not a huge baby. Just want a healthy baby big enough to come home. Me being tiny and damien being Bigger boned she may be a nice medium. 

24 weeks 6 days

This was taken last Friday. I am really starting to show now. and really I love it. I started this pregnancy at 96 pounds I am now at 110. So I have been gaining steadily like I should.

Next week I get to go take the Glucose test! Fun, well ask me that question next week and  I will tell you I have heard anywhere that its not that bad to its nasty, the doctor described it as flat orange crush. Hopefully everything will come back normal, I don't have any concerns really. So I am sure it will be fine.

Well Guess this is long enough for now.. I am off to BINGO with my mom, we are trying a new one out tonight, hopefully I will have better luck then the one we normally go to.

Til Next time

<3 Shelly