Kaycee's Chair Arrived!

Earlier this week, Miss Kaycee's chair arrived! We ordered it online from Costco and it came on Tuesday. Jake text me when they dropped the box off and sent me this picture...



And then he brought the box inside all by himself. It weighs 108 pounds according to the website. That's a heavy, awkward box to lift on your own! I was texting him and told him how awesome I thought he was, when he sent me this picture and told me I should keep telling him how awesome he was if I wanted another picture...

You can see the chair peeking out of the corner of the picture

I sent him a big long list of all the things I love about him, and got another picture that showed the chair reclined but I couldn't see the chair all the way... 

So I sent him ANOTHER big long text about the things I loved about him. It was much easier than I thought it would be to think of tons of things I love about him. He's such an awesome guy, I'm so lucky to have him in my life.

And then he sent me this gem of a picture! 

 

 

Words cannot BEGIN to express how much I love it! Her room is coming together SO much better than I had pictured in my head. I love it SOOOO much! I am hoping to get her shelf hung up soon and buy her curtains for the window and move her bookshelf in from the guest bedroom. That'll be the next project - mission is to have that accomplished within the next week or two!

30 weeks - a head of lettuce

Dear Kaycee,

Well, I feel like we've hit a weird transition with our time together. This week, I hit 30 weeks of having your cute little self with me all the time, and all of the sudden pregnancy is the greatest thing ever. Kind of sad that it took this long for me to feel that way. Maybe it's because I am feeling so much better. Maybe it's because I have more energy. Maybe it's because you're closer to coming, so it means I am closer to being done. Either way, pregnancy has been awesome lately.

 



I'm definitely at the "I love being pregnant" phase. I'm not uncomfortable, except when I sleep but even that is manageable. I haven't really had the dreaded heart burn everyone talks about - I feel it every now and then but only for a minute or two and it passes. I have noticed I get a weird pain whenever I yawn, but after googling it yesterday to see if any other mama's experienced it, I think it's just my ribs being loosened thanks to all the relaxin in my body. And even that isn't too bad - it just hurts while I'm yawning and as soon as I am done yawning, it goes away.

I think I am about to start nesting. I feel the "itch" to do stuff around the house lately. That could also be because I've been picking up a few extra shifts at work, so housework has dropped on my priority list and I am wanting to catch up on it. Either way, I want to get some laundry done and keeping the kitchen clean and our bedroom spotless and all that. Overall though, it isn't that bad. I like feeling the urge to keep our house clean. I've been so tired most of my pregnancy that cleaning wasn't high on my priority list, but now it's all I want to do. Super weird!

I am absolutely loving how much I feel you move. And dad seems to love it too. Whenever we're laying down or sitting next to each other, the "natural" place for his hand to be has become my tummy. He loves to be near you. It's one of my favorite things in the world to see. And of course, your little brother is all over my tummy. I can't wait to see his reaction when he realizes you aren't in my tummy anymore. I think he'll still cuddle me, but not like he does now. Max is probably starting to be ready for me to be done with pregnancy, since I wake up so many times to use the bathroom in the night. It disrupts his puppy slumber haha.

Today is Halloween, and one of the things I am looking forward to THE MOST about you coming is dressing up for next Halloween. I don't normally like to dress up, but I have a feeling that all 3 of our little family will dress up next year. Maybe we can even talk dad into letting Max dress up next year too. I have lots of friends who have posted pictures of their cute kids on Facebook & Instagram and it's ADORABLE seeing their cute costumes. Can't wait to dress you up :)

3.2 more weeks until mom's done working. Since the bank is closed on Veteran's Day, I will come to work 15 more times and then I am done having a job where I get paid in money. Then I will get pain in kisses. And have some SUPER cute co-workers that I get to kiss all the time. I have awesome co workers now, I just don't kiss them haha.

I sure love you baby girl. Keep growing for mom & dad. As excited as we are to meet you, we don't want you to come quite yet. Good thing I've had almost NO signs of preterm labor huh?

Love,
Mom

"Is there no other way?"

Luke 22:42 Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Over the weekend, Jake & I went and saw the movie "The Saratov Approach". It was absolutely AMAZING. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, you should. Pronto. It was FABULOUS. It's about 2 LDS missionaries who were taken hostage in 1998 in Saratov, Russia. Throughout the movie, they mention the crucifixion that the Savior endured and how He didn't want to be whipped, or have nails in His hands and feet, or any of those awful things He endured. But because that's what His father wanted and asked Him to do, He did it anyway.

And that in and of itself made me stop and think. I'd never really thought that He didn't WANT to do it. Very eye opening for me.

But then I thought about how that kind of applies to child birth too.

I don't think any girl growing up thinks, "I want to have babies, and to do so, I want to endure insane trials for 9 months and then go through hell and back to deliver them. And then a few years later, I'll do it again!" Pregnancy is hard. Child birth is hard. But people do it anyway, usually multiple times, because it is worth it.

And this is something I can do to help Heavenly Father with His divine plan. That is the ONLY way to get His Spirit children here on this earth - through child birth. Storks don't really bring them down from a cloud.

And even though I am scared, that makes me feel SO much better. Yes, it's going to hurt. Yes, it's going to be hard. But I can do hard things. I've done LOTS of hard things in my life, and I can do this. And I am doing something directly to help my Heavenly Father. That thought has really helped my attitude lately. Pregnancy hasn't been anywhere NEAR as hard the last 10 or so weeks, and then you add in that I just keep reminding myself that I am helping bring Spirit children to this earth - that I am furthering the Lord's work, and it helps it not seem so bad, or so hard.

Makes it a lot harder to wait though, that's for sure!

On that same note, Jake & I "follow" this family & their daily videos on YouTube. Seriously, amazing family. Their main YouTube Channel is "Shaytards" and they talk all about their lives: his weight loss struggles, their religion {they are LDS}, their 5 kids, being debt free {YEAH Dave Ramsey!}, etc. They are just awesome to watch. Last Friday, they had their 5th baby. And the video they posted for the day was 48 minutes long. And it was worth every single second to watch it. Watching it with Jake seemed like "good prep" - we could talk about Pitocin & the Epidural and all that jazz. And I was absolutely bawling when their little boy was born. Seriously, my emotions are all over the place haha. But it was AMAZING to see this little person be born. And it was so awesome to hear him coaching her and telling her how proud he was of her and that he knew she could do it and all that awesome stuff husband's say when their wife is doing the unthinkable. Made me SO excited for our special day when Miss Kaycee comes.

Can't wait for the big day when I get to give myself this mental pep talk, and hear this mental pep talk from Jake. It's going to be the most memorable day of my life.

Building Kaycee's Crib

Last week my mom ordered Kaycee's crib for us!! I had originally found it at Target.com, but she ended up finding it for a little less with free shipping on Amazon! Good job mom - love finding ways to get things for cheaper!

It was delivered on Thursday and it took both Jake & me to get it in the house - the box was SUPER heavy and really awkward because of how big it was. We left it in the living room until we were ready to set it up.

 

We had planned to set it up Saturday evening but we got distracted with other errands we were running, so it didn't end up happening. Sunday morning, I talked Jake into just opening the box and working on it for 30 minutes. Which turned into an hour and 15 minutes, after I threw a mini fit about how badly I wanted it set up. Thanks for helping me set it up babe, I so appreciate you!!! 

Opened box with pieces of the crib throughout the room

Jake is REALLY good at assembling furniture. I'm so grateful, because I am really good at following the directions but not at the actual assembly so together we make a really good team!

And of course Max had to be in there with us, watching the whole time. He loves going in Kaycee's room.

All finished!!!

I love how it turned out - it's exactly what I was imagining! Right now her room is a BIG mess - the box is still in there, since it's WAY too big for our garbage can, and there's stuff all over the top of her dresser, plus other random things scattered throughout the room. Hopefully that explains the awkward angle of the picture - I was trying to cut out all the mess haha.

Jamie, our neighbor who is helping me make Kaycee's blanket, is going to make an adjustable crib skirt for us too. Planning on going to buy the fabric for it either today or tomorrow - can't wait to see what her crib looks like with a skirt & sheet on it!

And I found the chair I want - it's at Costco.

Just ordered it - can't wait to get it all set up in her room! It's really starting to come along! Can't wait to actually have our princess using her little room!

Kaycee's BYU Blanket

When I went to buy the fabric to make Kaycee's "main" blanket, I saw this BYU fabric and could not pass it up. She already has 3 different BYU outfits and a BYU receiving blanket, but I wanted her to have a good warm BYU blanket she could drag around the house with her when she's older. Sticking with her room theme and my all-time favorite color, I got pink fleece for the back.

One of my crazy cool goals was to make a blanket for Kaycee, and she is getting a blanket that I participated in, but I didn't make the whole thing. I don't have that satisfaction of looking at it knowing "I did that all by myself" so this blanket was a GREAT idea because I was able to do it by myself and because it didn't involve sewing, I know I will make another blanket like this again someday.

Monday night, while Jake was asleep, Max & I turned on "Castle" on TV and set out to make her blanket.

I think people think I'm being dramatic when I say Max always wants to be near me. I'm not - he's always RIGHT next to me. Here's the 2 fabrics I picked

Laid the fabric out and was getting ready to start cutting and he laid down right on top and got comfy. This blanket isn't for you Max!!

After I had tied the first side

All done! I tried to show the pink by flipping one side up. I love how it turned out!

Laid out on the floor, all done!

It took me less than 2 hours to do the whole thing, which I was surprised about. I was using pretty dull scissors, or it may have gone even faster. I love how it turned out, and I love the size - it'll be perfect for her to use as she grows. Can't wait to see her with it - only 10 more weeks until my due date!!

Kaycee's Blanket: Days 2 & 3

Last week, I got the chance to work on Kaycee's blanket again. On Wednesday & Thursday night, I went over to Jamie's house and we worked on it! Wednesday, we sewed the strips together & ironed them flat. Well, Jamie sewed & I ironed. Seriously, sewing is NOT my thing. Since Jamie is doing a big part of my blanket, I decided to make another blanket too so that I can say that I put in 10 hours of work so that I can use it for Personal Progress.


The pieces on the left are sewed together, the ones on the right aren't. Once the blanket is sewed it makes it a little bit shorter

Jamie sewing the pieces together

All done sewing the front together!

Thursday night, we pinned the minky to the block front with batting in the middle and Jamie started sewing!



We are doing a little bit of overlap, so there will be minky on the front lining the blanket

I picked out a pink thread at Hobby Lobby and apparently the thread I picked matches the minky a little bit TOO well... we got a little askew and were having a SUPER hard time unpicking it from the minky because we couldn't see it. After a lot of frustration and squinting since it was so late, Jamie decided she'd work on the blanket in a few days and get it back to me after it was all finished. Before I left for the night, we hurried and made a few pillow cases for Kaycee's room too. We used scraps from the fabric, so that didn't cost anything, and I got the pillows at DI!

$3 pillow from DI

New pillow case {Front}

New pillow case {Back}

$1 pillow from DI

New pillow case! It's the same fabric on the front and the back.

Both new pillows together

I love how the pillows turned out! I will make sure and post a picture of her blanket as soon as I get it back!

29 weeks: a butternut squash

Dear Kaycee,

This week, you are a butternut squash. And once again, I have no idea how big that is. Either way, you're getting bigger! Another week that you're still in mom's tummy, which I am so grateful for!

This week, mom has had a bit of a cold & sore throat. I went in last week to get tested for strep, since one of my co workers has it but I tested negative for it. Which is awesome, except the doctor wasn't quite sure how to treat me. He put me on Sudafed and said to take it easy for a few days, and it seems to have helped some. Now I'm just trying to drink tons of water and see if I can make it go away completely.

We got your crib last week and got it all set up in your cute room. I'll do a separate blog post about that, but it turned out AWESOME - me & dad absolutely love it!

 

No new cravings, no new symptoms this week other than a few Braxton Hicks on Monday night. I was home alone {dad was at work} and Max & I both thought he heard something in the other room. It scared us both pretty bad, since it was around midnight. Max went out to investigate and calmed down, which made me feel better and realize it was probably just the dishwasher turning on, but I was SUPER scared for a while and had a crazy adrenaline rush. The whole time I was having Braxton Hicks, which made me even more worried. It was a stressful night, but I ended up falling asleep {with dad's gun next to me on the nightstand} and the BH stopped, so all's good there.

If I thought Max was adoring and wanted to be near you before, it's getting worse. Now he lays on my tummy, even though it's becoming apparent there isn't room for him. I think he has felt you moving around in there, but it doesn't scare him or make him confused like I thought it would. He just lays right there and closes his eyes. I think he can feel your heart beating. It's adorable. He loves to lay with me on the couch {my new favorite place to lay} and be on top of you. He'd better realize he can't be on top of you once you're here though - don't want him to suffocate you! 

Keep cooking in there little one - dad has a co-worker and friend who had their baby this week and he was born 8 weeks early. Please don't come quite yet - we want to get to take you home when mom gets out of the hospital. Sure love you princess!!

Love,
Mom

Kaycee's Blanket: Day 1

One of my goals I set earlier this year was to make a blanket for my princess Kaycee. I have a friend in the ward who posted a picture of a quilt she made for her sister, and I fell in love with the style. She told me she'd be more than willing to help make a blanket, so I bought the fabric I needed & headed over there to start working on the blanket last week.

The pattern I picked has 6 different fabrics on the front & 1 for the back. These are the fabrics I picked for the front:



The first step was to iron them all out. I don't iron very often, but it's hard to screw up ironing a flat piece of fabric so that went well!

All done with the ironing!

After ironing, each piece of fabric needed to be cut into 5 different sizes. Here's the stack of all the fabric after it'd been cut:



And then it was time to figure out how to arrange the fabric! Surprisingly, this took a REALLY long time to get it just the way I want it without too many colors touching or too much of one pattern in each line, etc. I love how it turned out though!

 

Tonight's goal is to sew the front all together! This should be REALLY interesting since I don't sew at all, but Jamie has been a HUGE help so I'm sure it'll go great! 

Day at the Zoo

While our nieces were here last weekend, we got the chance to go to Utah Hogle Zoo with them! I love going to the zoo, and didn't realize a new exhibit had opened since I'd been there last. It was super fun to see their reactions to the animals.

Clint & Emrie

Jake & Kenzie

Dustin, Emrie, Hunter, Kenzie & Keisha

Clint & Macy climbing on the gorilla

The kids & Clint playing near the elephant

Aren't they so cute? I have pretty cute nieces {and hopefully soon-to-be nephew}

Baby elephant with the mommy elephant. I love elephants. And I am partial to babies right now. This was my favorite animal this trip!

Clint & Emrie looking at the seals. This exhibit was really nice!! And they had a POLAR BEAR! Can't believe I forgot to get a picture of him!

Sleeping tiger. Tigers are usually my favorite at the zoo but he was sleepy this time so he was boring haha

The kids drinking out of the lion water fountain

The giraffes. There was a baby giraffe too!

Me & Jake - sure love this guy!

The kids all going down the slide. Clint & Jake decided to go down too!

Emrie coming out

Hunter's turn!

Hunter, Kenzie & Clint watching as Jake came out

I have a pretty fun hubby. He's going to be the best dad

On our way out of the park we went past the elephants again. They had been in one smaller part of their area before and now were walking around the whole thing

And of course we had to stop and get ice cream. I love ice cream! Jake got twist & I got mint flavored.

I forgot to get a picture of Jake's mom - whoops! But she was there too! Yay for going to the zoo. Hopefully next time we go we have a little princess with us looking at all the animals too!