October 21st!

Mary Alice came into this world this morning at 12:13 am! She is a beautiful little girl with lots of dark brown hair and grey-blue eyes. She is 8 pounds 3 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. She has been nothing but sweet from the moment she was born! She loves to be snuggled! We had great nurses and her baby nurses have been so helpful in teaching me how to nurse. Each time it's getting better and better! Right now she is sleeping in Daddy's arms- all swaddled up and loving life!

Week 39

This is the end of many things, and the beginning of other beautiful things! We are ending that carefree time of marriage that we've been living for the past 2 years, and all the carefree years before that. This is the end of uninterrupted sleep, being able to pack up and leave in 30 seconds or less, quiet days, and many other things that we will soon find out! We are entering a new phase in life. We get to be parents! Which seems so crazy to me! I'm going to be a mom?! My mom is a mom, my sister is a mom- but me? I never really thought this day would ever come! And it's coming- this week! I can't imagine all the beautiful things that will come with the birth of this little girl!

We are going into the hospital on Wednesday morning and hopefully sometime by Thursday (obviously I'm hoping it doesn't take that long!!!) we will be holding our new baby! Words can't express how we feel, or at least my words. We are so excited and grateful that she is coming!

I'll miss this belly! Of course I'd rather have a baby in my arms, but it's a sweet thing to have a baby growing in you. I have so enjoyed bonding with her and feeling her grow and move. I hope that we will get to have this experience again in the (not too distant) future.

Here are some photos of the baby's nursery. I will still be adding a couple finishing touches this week, but the main things are done. It's very PINK and very GIRLY! (Let's hope the ultrasounds were right or it will be one confused boy!)

Maybe I'm crazy and felt like my baby NEEDED a chandelier mobile. Can you believe they don't sell these? I had to buy a mobile, take it apart and string the beads.

Remember this rocker??

Here it is now! It was a lot of work but totally worth it!

One of our favorite things is this picture of the Salt Lake temple with the words "I'm going there someday.." The best part is we already had the frame and we got the picture for free (just the cost of printing at Costco)! We got it from a sweet girl who has a cute blog: http://www.lilluna.com/ She has a lot of other temple pictures for free on her blog! I think it's awesome that she offers these at no cost!

Week 38

Last week I was so sure that the baby was on her way SOON... as in maybe this week soon. Every night, as I was going to bed, I was sure that I would wake up to contractions. But on Wednesday we went to the doctor and he let us know that there is absolutely nothing going on in the dilation station. This was a tiny bit disappointing, but at the same time, really good to know. I have been able to get a lot more done this week without the thought that at the next moment I could be going into labor. It's probably good that I've been able to be a little more active this week because guess what decided to make a comeback after 9 months? My appetite! I have had such little interest in food my whole pregnancy until this week. Now I feel like I could polish off everything in the pantry in one evening. Luckily we only have two more weeks till the baby comes. I think I can keep my appetite at bay for 10 more days.
I am a little less nervous about the birthing process this week. I'm just getting so excited to see her! We sit in the nursery every night and just talk about how exciting it will be to actually have a baby in there with us in two short weeks!

Week 37

We've waited for October to come for so long and it's finally here! I can't believe we only have 3 weeks until we get to see our little girl! Jimmy and I still don't feel like this is real... we really are going to bring a baby home with us soon!
I still feel great! When I compare the discomfort of her being in my belly (which is pretty much zero) with the discomfort of labor (which is NOT zero) I will take the baby in the belly. So am I ready for her to be out? Not really. But if she doesn't come out, I don't get to see her. So then yes, I am ready for her to be out. I'm just excited for labor to start so it can end with a beautiful, sweet baby!
I can tell she is getting ready to be out in the world. She is becoming so aware of what's going on out here. This week, she has started to react to noises. I was at Walmart last night and someone dropped something and she jerked. She does this a couple times a day. Even when I feel like the noise isn't very loud, she'll jump. She is already, in a way, relating to life. I so appreciated conference and all that I learned about children and parenting. I'm so glad that I have guidelines and counsel to use when raising this sweet spirit. I hope I don't mess her up too bad.
Our appointments have all been good these past few weeks. My cervix is soft and the nurse can feel the baby's head. I'm excited to go in this Wednesday and see if I have dilated at all. I'm not counting on it, just curious. The nursery is pretty much finished. Well, I'm always thinking of new touches to add... the longer I wait, the more I think of. I'm sure Jimmy is praying she'll get here soon so I'll stop working on it! The same thing happened when we went ring shopping. The first time we went, I picked out a beautiful ring. A couple months later, we went ring shopping again and I picked out another beautiful ring- only this time it was bigger. Very soon after that, he proposed. I guess he knew what would happen if he kept waiting!
This past week, a great friend took some maternity pictures for me. I wasn't thrilled about posing in my hugeness but it's good to document this fun time. Plus, the photographer was so comfortable to be around and I had another great friend there to help.

This is a picture she took using our camera.

And my personal favorite: one that Jaxie took!

I always feel more comfortable making a face!