We got a baby, we got a baby, we got a baby hey hey hey

She's here! She came Sunday at 7:40 pm. She's 5lbs 13 oz and her name is Lydia Esther. I'll post her birth story later. Here's some eye candy for ya.

And now I'll get back to snuggling my baby.

Shutterfly's 50 FREE Holiday Card Promotion

I've been trying to think of what I want to do for a birth announcement once our little one comes. Patrick's parents do a Christmas letter every year that they send out to friends and family. I think this is a neat tradition and a kind way to let those you love in on what's been happening throughout the year. And if you have a new born... show off thier cuteness!

Well I found my solution! Shutterfly!

They are running a promotion for bloggers who blog about their products to get 50 free cards. Since I have a huge family, we'll probably have to buy additional cards... but the 50 free will sure be nice! I'll do a Christmas birth announcement :)

I've been looking through their website and am amazes at all they have to offer.

When Patrick and I got married we decided to just get our wedding pictures put on a CD and then we'd either print them ourselves or make a book online. I love that book. Patrick put it together and it honestly didn't take him too long. Now we have a good coffee book that showcases our big day. Shutterfly offers these photo books starting as low as $10.39. WHAT! $10.39 is so inexpensive!! Check them out HERE.

With the holiday's coming up these make great gifts. I have known of people who make the smaller size and give them to grandmothers as their "brag" books. You could also do a personalized calendar with tons of your favorite pictures. Interested in making a calendar??? Look no further than HERE.

What I'm really interested in though are these cute Christmas cards. It's exciting to think I will be putting pictures of our sweet girl on there in just a few short weeks.

Here are a few I like from the TONS they offer:

Check out Shutterfly!

No Hot Water

Our water heater appears to be on the fritz. This morning I got in and turned on the water to have my feet freeze :(

Looks like I may be treking back to the seminary tonight to use their facilities and get a hot shower.

Dear Water Heater,

Please get better soon!

Thanks!

Full Term Baby

That's right!! I'm full term today. This baby is technically ready for life outside the womb. I am flip flopping on how I feel about that. Yesterday I was completely ready for her to get out of me and today I'm not so sure. Maybe a week or so more of cooking would be good for us all :).

I am feeling tons more prepared for her arrival. We bought the car seat and stroller this weekend. I have washed all her clothes and put them up. Her bed is made. The car is vacuumed (had to deKirbyfy it).

I had another shower this weekend and WOW we were totally blown away by our friend's kindnesses toward our family! We were given so much! I will do a post of pictures from this soon.

I have started to swell a little this past week :( My face has been retaining water (or fat not really sure at this point) for a little while now. My feet and hands are starting to join in on this swell fest. And also joining the team in the swelling are my arm pits. HAHA is that too much information for my blog? Well it is my blog. Sorry if I just grossed you out.

Moving on.

Patrick and I went for my weekly dr's apt. We had an ultrasound to make sure her head is down. Praise the Lord it is! Everything looked great. Dr said she is about a 7lb baby. That's why I'm ready to get her out. I don't want to deliver a 8+ kid.

Here are the stats

My weight: +2lbs 149 (31 lbs total)

Blood pressure: 110/66

Her heart beat: 136

Belly was measuring: 35 cm

I'm still 1 cm but have progressed to 75% effaced and her head is now more engaged. I am feeling more and more pressure down there.

The ultrasound didn't show much other than her head being down and giving the measurements to find her weight. She was facing my back so we really didn't get a good look at her face. What we did see honestly looked a little scary. No really she looked like a chunky monster. I know that we'll think she's adorable once she's out but those pictures weren't doing much for her.

I can't wait to see what she really looks like. Here's what I look like. HUGE

I'm hoping to get Patrick to take a real picture of me tonight. He says these phone pictures don't count.

Baby Shower

Last weekend I had my first baby shower. It was at my parents house so there were lots of family and old friends. We were very blessed by everyone's kindness to us. I have another shower tomorrow up here in Louisville. Here are some pictures from last week.

My sis in law made the cake. It was apple/carrot and amazing!




Anna loves baby showers:)
Here's the cake master Loralyn.

36 weeks

Honestly. I can't believe I just wrote 36 weeks. One more week and I will be full term. Quite honestly I'll be more than happy to get this sweet girl out of me and into our loving arms in about that time :). I haven't done any fun guessing things on the blog for people to guess when I'll deliver but if you want to give me your guess in the comment section, I'll be amused:)

I went for my weekly appointment yesterday. Here are the updates:

My weight: 147 (+/- 0 from last time...29 total gained)
My blood pressure: 110/60
Babies heart beat was 140's
I measured 34 cms (same as last time)

She checked me and said I'm a good 1cm dilated and 50% effaced and -2. She felt around and tried to see if this little girl is butt down or head down. She wasn't positive so she scheduled an ultrasound for next week's apt. I'm excited to get to see our sweet girl's face and I pray that it's what is putting pressure down low and not her butt.

I'm feeling really yuck in the sinus area. I have a headache and constant supply of snot that needs to be blown out. But like I said its never ending... I really hope this goes away before too long.

Fall Parties and Baby Showers

Fall Parties and baby showers pretty much explain my life right now. We have been busy lately which is nice because its making the time fly by. Here I am about to attack my pumpkin at Joanna's sixth annual pumpkin carving party. Here are some of the finished pumps. Ours (mine) is the bottom right.
A closer look at mine... It's the Schreiner family 2010.
Here I am with the wonderful hostess.
And my Patrick with our/my pumpkin:)
And then there's a baby shower.. not for me, for Stephanie. She is 3 wks ahead of me with a little boy. She also works at the school I work. I have enjoyed being pregnant with her. I remember when I was like 20 wks and really wanting to be showing (not lacking in that area now...) I was encouraged because she was just starting to really pop and I knew that would be coming my way in just 3 wks. Now I'm waiting for her to deliver so I know its coming my way:)
She is carrying her baby a lot higher than me (she is wearing heels in this pic but we are pretty much the same height and I feel like my belly could fit underneath hers)
Here's another shower I went to for Mindy. She is due 6 days after me. She is pictured on the left. In the picture is Mindy (Due Dec 13th) Me (due dec 7th) and Jordan (due Nov 18th??)
And another pumpkin party. This one was on halloween.
Brian and Jenny... sweet friends!
Jenny wasn't interested in carving but was more than willing to scoop the goop.
My pumpkin before I attacked it with the knife.
Brian working away.
David working on theirs... the guys mostly did the carving.. I was the only girl.

Sweet Nathaniel with his daddy
And here are the pumpkins.
Patrick (who was completely clueless of who carved which pumpkins) picked mine as the favorite. I won the prize!!!
Here's a close up.
Happy FALL!!

Kinkead family photos

Jesse and Erin are practically family. Jesse was a youth leader while I was in youth group. He went off and married a beautiful (great photographer) girl and they now have a family. Erin is one of my oldest sister's best friends and Jesse is also one of my bro-in-law's best friends. They are such a sweet couple and I loved getting to meet their little one and capture some moments for them. Here are a few.

35 wk update

I'm 35 wks and 1 day. I went to the doctor on Monday and everything looks good. This starts my weekly visits. I'll be going every Monday from here on out. Here are my stats

-My weight: 147 (whoa.. I know that means I've gone over my goal and have gained a total of 29lbs) +5 from last visit

-Blood pressure: 112/70 (thats high for me...probably because they had just shown me how much I had gained hahah)

-Little girl's heart beat was in the 140s

-My belly measured 34 cm

I'm feeling rather large these days. It's getting harder to move around and do little things. Things like unloading and reloading the dishwasher, unloading the washing machine, sweeping and bending down to sweep into dust pan, and really simple tasks like putting on shoes. I never knew how hard these things would be to do.

I have a lot of pictures to post on here but have been too lazy to upload them. Maybe I'll work on that soon.

Pic is when I was 34 wks 3 days

Here I am today (in all my candy cane likeness)