Nesting isn't just for the birds

This blog will mainly consist of pictures, enjoy!

36 weeks-last picture before we head to the hospital of Baby Marlowe in my belly, we are at 38 weeks now

Our freezer meals ready to pop into the oven to help us in our first few days home

Our nursery is all ready to bring Baby Marlowe home!

Peeking in

Blake's beautiful handiwork to add some character

Excited to capture memories

 I love our furniture & bedding, can't wait until Baby M can enjoy them

So excited to snuggle Baby Marlowe in our glider. I'm sure we will spend a lot of time sitting here as well as changing diapers on our changing table. 

 Baby Marlowe's book collection is growing-one of the bedtime routines we are looking forward to.

After arrival of Baby Marlowe we will be adding some little touches based on gender-curtains & wall art. Stay tuned!

A Year in Reflection......

In 2013, we were able to create many memories that will last us a lifetime:

1. I celebrated my last year of being in the 20s, Blake made it extra special by creating a homemade ice cream cake. As you read below the it was a great year to end the decade. 

2. I started a new position at Madison Elementary and I now  work with a wide-range of grade-levels and dabble more in the area of ELL. This has been a professional goal for me for the past few years and I was very excited to try something new. It has been a great experience, but not being in charge of my own classroom is something that I have missed. Both sides of being an interventionist and a classroom teacher have brought great learning experiences. The students all around have been wonderful. 

3. In May, we found out we're expecting a baby! This was  probably the biggest and most exciting news of 2013 for us. We cannot wait to meet our new bundle of joy and enter into parenthood in February 2014. I'm sure many of our future memories of the new year will revolve around the new addition :)

4. We put our house on the market & sold our house.....in 2013 change was a big part of our lives. We had hoped to sell our house during the summer since I was off and it would be a more convenient time for us, but it life happens on its own timeline.  

5. We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary! We enjoyed a great dinner at Cafe di Scala and were able to have ISU bake us a cake for dessert. It was great to enjoy a taste of our wedding day.

6. We traveled to Seattle, OR  to visit friends and celebrate one of them getting married. It was a wonderful trip as we made it into our anniversary/babymoon. We visited walked the whole city and enjoyed many of the sites including: the space needle, rode on a ferry, were in awe of the Chihuly gardens (our favorite), took an underground tour, shopped at Pike's Place Fish Market, went to a Mariner's baseball game, and ate delicious food throughout our trip-mainly oysters for Blake

7.   A visit to Maryland made the top of our list to visit Blake's family. It is something that doesn't get done as often as we like, but we love to see them. We always welcome them to visit us here in Iowa-now we have more room (hint, hint). 

8. We also tailgated to support our Cyclones. This year we got season tickets and a parking pass with our friends, the Froese's. It was nice always knowing we had a place to park, especially with both of couples expecting their first baby. They welcomed Shay at the end of September..........I see many more tailgates with little ones running around together. 

9. Finally, we moved into our new house. We ended up moving during the Fall after Blake found us the house we wanted to make our home.We got to move into our home at the end of October, thankfully to some understanding family we were able to stay with them during our time of "homelessness". We got to stay with my sister's family for almost 2 weeks with our dogs. Their 3 kids were great with the dogs and really enjoyed dressing up Lucy. 

Lucy was very good with all the love she was given

10. Taking on new things is something that after all the changes, maybe you thought I wouldn't do, think again. I began learning to knit. I  always wanted to learn how to knit, sew, crochet.....a co-worker heard me talking and offered to give me lessons along with a few others. I didn't get very far, but it is a start!

11. Preparing our nursery for arrival of Baby Marlowe. Blake was busy painting, putting furniture together, and putting up trim as I washed and organized all of Baby M's goodies. It is a wonderful nursery and we are looking forward to bringing home our little one in a few short weeks. It doesn't have all the finished touches, but it is ready enough to bring home Baby M. 

 

 

12. Spending time with family during the holidays was something we were able to enjoy. With Blake's family being so far away we were lucky enough to have his dad visit over the Christmas holiday. We had 4 Christmases. We celebrated with my dad's side-always the first weekend of December, my mom's side on Christmas Eve, my immediate family Christmas afternoon, and one ourselves on Christmas morning. What a busy holiday season and wonderful time to being with family. 

13. Spent a relaxing New Year's together in our new home, Blake made a delicious dinner and we watched movies. Stay tuned as 2014 will bring many more memories!

My drinks of of the evening

Blake's drinks of the evening

She Works Hard for the Money

Again, feeling blessed to have such amazing people in our lives. It doesn't matter which aspect of our lives you look at: family, friends, co-workers......

The hostess with the mostess.....Shauna (not pictured, Missy)

 Below are some of the great co-workers that showered Baby Marlowe and myself. 

 

I was thoroughly overwhelmed with the thoughtfulness and support from my work family. They have given me wonderful advice and provided me with fun stories of their own children. I am excited to have some of my own to share!

Look at all the goodies

Some great reads to get our nightly bedtime stories started

Comfies for Baby Marlowe....with some words of encouragement for myself (may be needed in the next few weeks)

Cute cocoon swaddle blanket knitted from Robin-she is also giving me lessons so that I can learn

Baby Marlowe has all the gear he/she needs to cheer on the Cyclones!

We continue to be showered with love along our journey to parenthood, stay tuned as we continue to prepare as much as we can.............

Enjoying the Experience

As we all love to see ourselves grow bigger, really not so much....pregnancy is a unique time to embrace it. I have always looked forward to the time of having children, but even with all the experience with children and seeing so many family & friends going through it I wasn't quite sure how I would feel or handle it. 

As we gear up for the last 8 weeks, I felt that it was a great time to reflect on this experience and share my ever-growing baby belly. 

Felt really tired, didn't really feel like eating, still in shock that we will be having our own little one

Still really tired, looking forward to sharing our news with our friends & family, we got to see our first ultrasound

Excited to have been able to share our exciting news....it started feeling more real, between this milestone & before the next I started feeling flutters created by Baby M

Month 4: Baby M- we had a mover, liked to push his/her legs

The growth of the baby bump really started right around this time. Not looking just like I was gaining weight, but that there is a baby in there! Blake was able to feel Baby M move.

Month 6: photos of our growing family

Month 7: so grateful that this pregnancy has gone so well, decided to stop wearing my wedding ring so that it wouldn't get stuck-when I get hot my fingers well

Month 8: starting to feel the pressure. There are times that I feel that I need to slow down-muscle cramping when I'm pushing myself, noticing that I am getting out of breath, but making sure that I am resting. We also went to our first baby/childbirth class.

It is difficult to sum up all the emotions and experiences that come with pregnancy. No words will do it justice. As I've heard, everyone's pregnancy is their own. Mine has been a wonderful time-nothing to complain about-even as sleeping throughout the nigh is no longer an option. My thoughts on pregnancy is, it has been one of the most amazing and strangest experiences that I have been through in life. I am so grateful that I have a supportive husband, family, friends, and work community to share it. I am just trying to take it all in and enjoy. 

Stay tuned for the count down.....8 weeks to go!