Pregnancy Photos

We received the photos from our pregnancy photo shoot today and love them! I am so glad that we decided to do the shoot after all. It was something I always knew I wanted to do, but when the time came to get it scheduled it seemed a little overwhelming, like it was just one more thing to get done before the baby arrived. But now that I see the photos I am so thankful that we captured what a miracle this pregnancy has been.

I think with the next baby we might schedule the shoot a week or two sooner because on the morning of the photo shoot it seemed like my body started screaming at me that it had had enough of this whole pregnancy thing. I felt like I could barely walk, let alone sit on the floor and try to look pretty.

Photos courtesy of Katie White:

Spring is here at last!

This week we have had our first few consecutive days of beautiful weather and we are LOVING it! Justin mowed our lawn for the first time about a week ago, and since then he has already been hard at work getting our yard and planting started for the year. He spent nearly the whole day on Sunday working outside. How we forget each spring that spending 7 hours in the yard requires sunscreen, even in early April, is beyond me. But he came in that evening with a very red neck and arms. Lesson learned....at least until next spring.


Our lawn is already turning a wonderful shade of green, with the exception of a few spots where we appear to be entertaining a burrowing rodent or two. It appears they may be yearly intruders, as we already rid ourselves of one last year.


But how do I really know that spring has arrived? The beautiful dogwoods that are blooming all around town, including one that sits right outside my window at work. We have yet to plant any in our own yard as we are still determining the best location for one, but until then I'll admire them from afar:



This time of year I especially love listening to the Nichole Nordeman song "Every Season":

"And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring"

Quincy Baby Shower

I am a little late on this post, but we've been a little busy the last few weekends. Thankfully, from here on out its pretty low key until our little guy arrives. Plenty of time left to get last minute things done...or so we hope.

My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law threw me a wonderful baby shower in Quincy on March 21st.

My dear friend Phyllis from Yakima was able to make it. (LOVE YOU, PHYLLIS!)

And here are the prego girls - Amanda is due in early August.No, that is not my wedding ring on my finger. My fingers started swelling about two months ago, just enough that I finally had to take off my wedding ring. The snugness started to worry me a little, and my worries were only made worse by my jeweler telling me horror stories about pregnant women getting their beautiful rings cut off. The ring currently on my finger (and in this pic) is the mother's ring Justin got me for Valentine's Day, which was purchased a little big since I can re-size it for free once I no longer have sausages for fingers (and toes!). Its an emerald for the May birth stone, so Justin is hoping our little guy doesn't arrive too early, since April's birth stone is a diamond.
And I got to spend the weekend with my buddy Amanda, whom I hadn't seen since Justin and I were in Seattle last August doing our IVF (way too long!). We treated ourselves to a wonderful pedicure, a little shopping, and LOTS of chatting. It was great for Amanda to get to see the belly since the next time I see her will be after the baby arrives.

Belly boast

I've received a lot of requests lately for some new belly pics, so here they are. These were taken at our thirty week mark, which was actually two weeks ago. Since then I have discovered my first belly stretch marks - EEK! Actually, they were probably sneaking up on me for awhile, but since they are on the underside of my belly it took me a little while to even see them. I'm still convinced Justin saw them weeks ago and, knowing how poorly I would take it if he pointed them out, opted to keep quiet and let me enjoy my bliss of thinking that stretch marks were one pregnancy drag that I might get to skip out on.

I have loved the little table that my belly makes for my meals and drinks.And here I am demonstrating the funny "Binder women" perky head pose. My sisters will know exactly what I'm talking about.Only eight more weeks to go!!

Is it time yet?

I am not talking about if its time for this baby to be born, although we are eagerly anticipating getting to say the famous line "Its time!" in about two more months. No, today my thoughts are centering around another event that happens this time of year. For the last two weeks I have been wondering why I have yet to discover a little girl in a cute little uniform ringing my doorbell. Yep, its Girl Scout Cookie time!

And my little neighbor girl that has come ringing at my door for the last two years has yet to make her appearance. I am beginning to wonder if I need to break my loyalty with her and just go find myself another Girl Scout already. She certainly knows that we're good for at least 5 boxes, at least three of which this year will definitely be Samoas (yum! yum!). Honestly, if she new I was pregnant she probably would have come to my house first. Any assumptions she might make that I will be buying more cookies in my current state are absolutely correct! In fact, we discovered this year just how wonderfully the cookies keep in the freezer for use later in the year. I think Justin and I just finished off our last box of Tagalongs not two months ago. So I'm thinking 10 boxes sounds about right for this year. I'm giving her two more weeks to make her appearance, then I'll be looking for Girl Scout referrals.