Hiccup..Hiccup..Hiccup

My wee little baby girl is hiccuping right now..so cute!!!!

I am 31 weeks today! We cannot believe that in an estimated 9 weeks Isabella will be born! Honestly, it makes me cry everytime I think about it. I cannot wait to meet her and hold her in my arms and look into her beautiful eyes. It's so overwhelming to think about at times-like there's so much to do in such little time. Although I've heard most moms feel that way before their kids are born.

The shower went great! We got so much stuff that we needed and are still trying to find space for it all! We just have to rearrange a little and then it will be perfect!
Thank you to everyone who came and were so kind and generous to Isabella! <3

I have such mixed emotions right now. I really want her out of my belly so I can hold her and see her finally, but at the same time I fear not being able to protect her enough. Right now she's in me and I can protect her and keep her safe so much easier. I want her to be happy and know how much she is loved always! To never feel pain or suffer-even though I know that is not possible to prevent that sometimes. That's life.

The night before our wedding my Mom gave me all the letter she's written to me since I was born. I cried so hard! I was/am her baby girl and now I'm having a baby girl. The amount of love she felt for me even then is so amazing because I feel it already for Isabella. To see the words she wrote throughout the years breaks my heart in good and bad ways. To hear how I hurt her as a young woman in ways that at the time I couldn't fathom and I know that it may happen to me with my baby girl. I want Isabella to be my best friend as I have been with my Mom.
Lets just keep hoping and praying for a healthy delivery for baby and I!!!!

Rockaby Baby In....My Swollen Belly

Baby Bella is a perfectly healthy baby still-had my 7 month check up today! All is well in baby land!
I am 29 weeks and 5 days---She'll be here in about 10 weeks!! Crazy!
The crib looks great-thanks to Grandma Pederson! And our crib mattress looks great in the crib-thanks to Mom McLeod (Doug's Mom)!!
All that's missing for the crib is the crib sheets and bumpers and...of course Isabella who will make it complete!
This is just the photo from the website-we haven't taken any official photos of ours yet until we have like the sheets, etc...And this is not the bedding or theme for Baby Bella, but you can still see the crib!

I feel bad for her because I can feel how she is running out of room. She takes up almost the whole uterine cavity so now when I feel her in there it's not just little kicks and punches, it's her elbows and knees as she tries to get comfortable. Cute!!!
She is approximately 17 inches long and almost 3 whole lbs!!!! Our baby girl is getting so big already!
Yesterday I counted and I saw on 4 separate occasions my belly jump from her in there doing in dance routine! It was amazing! And I wasn't even staring at my belly-I was looking at something and it caught my eye.
The baby shower is 3 days away and I cannot wait! I'm sure I'll spend the day(s) after washing all her tiny clothes and making room for all her little things.
Today we go to our first "meet'n'greet" with a potential pediatrician for baby Bella. I got a bunch of questions online to ask and added a few of my own-just want to make sure Doug and I feel comfortable and confident with our choice.
He's been great as I expand outwards! ( I feel like a beached whale at times...)
He always offers to get me something to eat or cook for me. He did the laundry last weekend-I helped, I had to show him how to do it right-and made the bed from scratch last weekend too! And it's really adorable and makes me want to tear up when I see him gaze over into the crib looking down in it and I assume imagining our little girl sleeping so sweetly in there.
He's going to be an amazing father and if I am 1/2 of how amazing my mom was, baby Bella will in great hands!

Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Star..Oh wait, That's Me Every 20 Minutes!

So I am 7 months pregnant now!! Yay for Baby Isabella and Me! We made it this far and are in our last trimester = 12 weeks or less and she will be here..well she's here now, but then she'll be out of me and in our arms!
The sweltering and super humid summer months have begun as of this past week. Which is good for little kids playing in the yard and running through sprinklers and slip'n'slides, but for a 7 month pregnant lady--not so good! Air conditioning is definitely a God-send!
She is so active and I love when I massage her and talk/sing to her while massaging and she kicks when I stop for a second to sip some water or flip a page in the book I'm reading--so cute!
I read that she is about 2 1/2 lbs and approximately 16 inches long! Can you believe that? My little pearl in the first ultrasound is huge and still growing! Keep it up my little Star! Doctors say that at this point she can dream and even dream about me-her Mommy! How cute?
It's the final countdown....

Bump Bump Bump..In the Night

She's my little night owl! The heat has proven to be my biggest enemy of sleep, but I think my little Belle is trying to win that contest. I totally prefer her over the sweltering heat waves I feel. As I near the beginning of my 3rd trimester, ( in 4 days I will be 28 weeks-wowza!!!) my excitement and anxiousness increases with leaps and bounds-like she does in the little crib I made for her in my womb.
Doug and I talk daily about how we cannot wait to meet her and kiss her little fingers and toes. It makes me so happy to see his face light up with such joy and amazement when he talks to my belly and rubs it and feels her react to him. She always kicks for him and I know she's already aware we are her mommy and daddy and we love her more than ourselves. It's like she is letting us know "Hey Mum/Dad! I hear/feel you and I love you too!! Now feed me again!"
The crib should be arriving in a couple days and we cannot wait to put it together. Mostly me due to the "nesting" phase arriving. I organize and clean the room all the time in preparation. But once the Baby Shower comes and goes-I will be plenty busy with her little teeny weeny itsy baby clothes and toys/gifts.
Mmmm...I am going to go get a freeze pop!!!

Rollin On the River of Amniotic Fluid

As silly as it sounds, that's how it feels right now with Isabella in my belly!
She is moving and moving all the time! Mostly at night..of course. But this evening-granted it is 11pm- she is going all out! It feels like an all out dance marathon, but its good because it means she's healthy and strong! Yes, it causes extra bouts of heartburn and an extra 5 visits to the bathroom an hour, but it's sooooo worth it! It warms my heart with every "little" punch, kick, head butt, or full on body slam that she does in there. It makes me smile and feel filled with so much love.
Doug and I were blessed enough to have our Grandma Pederson buy our baby shower gift today-3 weeks before the big party!!!- a crib for Isabella! It's beautiful and perfect! And yes, I sat there looking at the computer screen for a good 35 minutes debating between cherry or coffee stained..Seriously? How lame do I feel now??? But at last I decided on coffee stained and its a 4-in-1 "sleigh" crib and we love it. Doug said he loved all the pictures I showed him, so all the pressure was on me...hee hee huu..hee hee huu... Totally kidding-but for real it was stressful but I am happy with our choice and I hope it looks just as great with the bedding we picked out in reality as it does in my head! I have a feeling Isabella won't care as much at first as much as I will. I want something just a smidgen as beautiful as I know she is for her to sleep in. Well I should try to take some more Tums and nibble some crackers or something before I knit. I want to knit until I fall asleep tonight!
Yay my Mum is coming out to see me in 2 days and I cannot wait for her to feel her little grandbaby kicking away!!!

27 Weeks

So this is my first blog on entry on here and yes, it is a little late in the "journey"--but hey, better late than never right?
Doug and I are celebrating our 2 month anniversary next week and next week I will enter in my 3rd trimester!!! Can you believe it? Baby Isabella Jewel will be arriving in approximately 13 weeks as of today. We are so so excited! Yes, I'm not overly enthused about the pain I may experience during her journey to the "outside" world, but the afterwards...oh yeah!!!! We can finally meet our little acrobat in my belly. I can hold her for the first time and look into her beautiful little eyes and kiss her and fall in love with her all over again.
I love her so much already! Lately, when I see anything on TV or read anything about babies, pregnancy, birth, etc. I tear up-even with commercials. And yesterday on our way to Kroger, we heard "All American Girl" by Carrie Underwood--yes, I cried! Sometimes just feeling her kicking and punching and now having her little hiccups makes me get misty eyed thinking about her and how she is our baby girl for all of time. Nobody can say that about our Isabella.
We just found out that my sister-in-law, Meredith, is having a baby girl too! Penelope Mae-cute! It's weird for me to think of my big brother being a daddy, but I know he'll be great at it. And Meredith is due to deliver Penny about 8 weeks after Isabella-obviously we are on the babies time schedule- but that means the girls will be super close in age!
Alright, I want some more of that Cranberry-Apple Bread with cream cheese right now....yum yum!!!