The best gift of all!

Dear Baby Girl,

Mommy and Daddy are so excited that we will be meeting you very soon! Today is Christmas Eve! I am so glad that God and Santa heard all of our prayers for a baby! And this Christmas we are so excited to have this wonderful gift of life (you) in my belly preparing for your big debut in February! You are everything we have ever wanted and so much more! Keep growing and learning your little actions and movements in my tummy so that when you are born you can show them off to us! I love you! Daddy loves you! And the entire world who does not even know you yet, loves you! Stay healthy and strong Baby Zoe! Mommy will be right here helping you along the way for your big day!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

3-D/4-D Ultrasound today!

Today we saw Baby Zoe in 3-D and 4-D! Almost like the movies, lol! It was so awesome!

Here she is practicing sticking out that bottom lip for daddy to give her the world! She has a few where she is pouting with her lips! So cute!

I love this one because she is resting her hand on her face!

Here is just another one that looks so adorable!

Soon we will see her in person! How cool that there is such technology in the world for awesome experiences such as this!

Mommy and Daddy love you Baby Zoe! We will see you in a few weeks so stay strong, healthy, and happy!

BABY ROOM ALMOST COMPLETE!!!

How awesome is this??? We have almost finished the baby room!!!! Now we just need diapers and bottles! Then we will be ready to have our precious baby girl!!!! Can you believe we did this all by ourselves! I think we should be paid! :-)

Here is the left of the room!

Here is from the left of the room!

Here is a sky view of the crib! Yes we do know not to have the baby bumper in there for a while! We just wanted to add it for now to make it look cute!!!! And I know the lamp should not be there either! Ha ha ha, we are in the process of getting something to hold that up! :-)

Here is a view from the right side! SO ADORABLE!!!! The only thing you can not see is the three drawer changing table chest that matched the crib! I figured it didn't need to be in the picture! This is way better! Don't you think?

Thank you hubby (Joey) for helping so much! Joey, you are the best husband and best friend ever! You will be the best daddy in the whole world!!! I can not wait!!!!

Now back to the list of things to do! ha ha ha!

Love,

Mommy to be!

WOW, 7-9 more weeks to go!!!!

So the countdown begins!!!! Only 7-9 more weeks to go! It has been moving extremely slow for me but the last few days I started feeling excited, anxious, worried, and like it is crunch time to get things done!
The picture above shows the babies room a few hours ago! Joey finished painting the baby room and we are in the progress of putting up the border! It is so much harder then I thought! I honestly would much rather pay someone a good honest days work then to go through the frustration I have seen Joey and even myself go through! But then again, in the end... it is all worth it and for our baby girl!!! We decided to go with yellow instead mint green! It came out awesome! We also decided that after 1-2 years or so we will change the room to be more of a little girls room with pinks, purples, greens, and butterflies and flowers.... Until then it's all
baby:-)
I can not wait to show you the finished product!!!

So here is what 31 weeks pregnant looks like! We start 32 weeks today, yay! If you look closely, you can almost see what use to be my ab muscles right under where the blue shirt is on the right of the picture! They are in hibernation for now... but do not worry, they will be back! lol

Here is a sideways picture and partially front picture so you can see just how my belly looks!
Can you see my belly button poking out on the picture below????

So here are the things we have or I have left to do, until we meet our baby girl (not in any particular order):

1.) Attend Birthing Classes in Jan.

2.) Pack Hospital bag for me and baby zoe and maybe even daddy

3.) Plan doggy sitter- Zerique??? and if so also just in case a back up for 1/2 day due to AUSTIN Marathon???

4.) Write down my actual birth plan or idea

5.) Make a list of people to call and have certain people call from that list when it is the time:-)

6.)Finish set up of baby room

7.) Do I wash all her new clothes or just some????

8.) Figure out what baby clothes are for what and when....

9.) Get lots of diapers!!!

10.) Get bottles!!!
11.) Finalize a pediatrician

12.) Change over from our old insurance to new insurance (paperwork and stuff)

13.) Look into what daycare or home daycare works best for us in MAY and then in August....

14.) Spend time with hubby!

15.) Spend time with doggies!

16.) Lesson plan for the first six weeks I will be out on maternity leave and help teachers with actual lesson to use for that time period!

17.) Lesson plan for the two weeks after Holiday break and then the time before I leave for maternity leave!

18.) Put car seat in car properly, or leaning like Zaelynns (she came out just fine!!!!)

19.) Pre-register to be admitted into hospital for labor and delivery so I do not have to on the day!

20.) Rest, relax, and breathe!

That's a long list... I know I missed stuff... let me know what you think about some of the ones I have in question... also if I need to add more to our list! ha ha ha

Starting 31 weeks!

Here are some pictures from the past week!
I thought you might enjoy them! Look at our baby girl! She is growing so much!
Weighing a little over 2.5 pounds with about 3% fat... did you know she still needs about 12% more body fat before birth! I guess I am going to have to gain some more weight! lol!
So far to date, I have gained 19-21 pounds depending on the scale and time of day! Ha Ha Ha! Yes, it does matter to me, for all those wondering why I gave a range! lol!


Can you see that magical and mysterious line that becomes visible in most pregnant women! Wow, mine almost goes all the way to start of my sternum!

To the right is a picture of my sister Holly, then me, then my Bestfriend since 6th grade Monica, and cousin in law Janene! Would you believe they were in our wedding almost 5 years ago!

Here is a belly picture of last Sunday, when I started my 30th week! It looks cuter with a shirt

one, I think!

And now, I start 31 weeks! I will put a new picture up next week! I like to snap them every other week! I think my belly is bigger than last week already, but I will let you wait in suspense!

I have one more week left to teach until we get off for two weeks for Christmas Break!!!!

We have our tree up and decorations! We even have some gifts wrapped!

I love the Christmas season!!! It is one of my favorite Holidays of the whole year!!!! I can't wait until next year when we get to share every day with our baby girl! Only 70 more days until we get to meet her! I am so excited! I pray each and every night that she is growing strong and healthy! I thank God each and every night for this wonderful gift of life! By that way, did you now that "Zoe" means life!!!!! So it is perfect, "ZOE GRACE" for life and grace!!!!

BABY SHOWER AND STARTING 30TH WEEK OH MY!

30th Week! Baby Zoe weighs about 2.5 pounds and has a strong heart beat of 148 bpm! We are almost there!!!!

Baby Jogger Stroller

Wonderful Hubby and Me!
Mari's and Chris's Cake for US!!!!

Baby Shower Decorations and gifts!

We had a FAMILY BABY SHOWER yesterday! It was so awesome! My bestfriend and mother in law helped put it all together and let it flow awesome!

We had hand made centerpeices of marshmallows dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, along with pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate as well! Yummy!
Zerique made a banner also! She is very crafty, were I am more like... where can we buy it or why don't we buy it??? ha ha ha! I am glad she stood her ground of making everything from the centerpeices to the banner.... it came out so nice and pretty! And I appreciate it so much!

My husband (Joey) and I have a friend that makes cakes out of her house! She made our cake for the baby shower! It came out so cute!!!! Great Job Mari!

We got a lot of cute and precious gifts! Thank you to everyone! We appreciate it so very much! Joey and I joked that Baby Zoe has enough CUTE and ADORABLE clothes until she will start walking! Ha ha ha! So tiny and precious! It's scarry to think she will grow so fast after she is born and will only wear certain thing for a short amount of time!!!! I wish that part went slowly and the pregnancy part went a little faster! lol!

With gift cards, cash gifts, and double items.... we were able to go get our running stroller and car seat carrier bundle from BABIESRUS! "Baby Trend Expedition ELX Travel System Stroller- Everglade" We are so excited and can not wait to go running with our bundle of joy!!!! I actually think Joey was more excited and ready to buy it then me! ha ha ha

Joey has been so awesome this entire pregnancy! He is always excited and ready for anything BABY!!!! He has been a magnificent support with so much help and understanding! I know he is going to be the best dad in the whole world! I can not wait until he gets to hold his baby girl!!!!

Hope you enjoy the baby shower pictures!