Baby Shower!

Last weekend my friend Dorlee hosted a baby shower for us.  My mom was in town and I'm so glad she was able to join us.  I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because we were too busy visiting.  It was a really nice afternoon, and I feel so much gratitude for the generosity, thoughtfulness, and care of my family and friends.  We even had a few gifts from friends in S.C. and family in England - what a special surprise!

Here I am with the wonderful group of ladies:

Thank you to my dear friend Dorlee for hosting the shower.  Although I don't have my family with me in Flagstaff, I have some really top-notch dear, dear friends that I am so thankful for.  This baby will surely always feel surrounded by love and community.

Luckily my mom was around to help me start to organize the influx of baby things.  We've got some things to put together this weekend, clothes to wash and ready, and I need to finish a couple sewing projects to finish up the baby's room.  We are even thinking of trying to put together the car seat this weekend and take it for a spin! So looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend to relax, sleep, and continue getting things ready for Baby H.

31 Weeks

This is baby and me at the Grand Canyon a couple of weeks ago.  It was rather warm and we took numerous breaks, but it was nice to get some fresh mountain air!

I will be 31 weeks tomorrow and feeling every week of it.  I find myself at work in a cycle of sit, walk, stretch to keep my back and hips comfortable.  I've been walking everyday and yoga twice a week, but it's getting harder and harder to avoid those pesky back aches.  I'm carrying baby on my front and my back is bowing like a lovely letter "C"!  I hit a few bumps with some elevated blood sugar levels, but I'm on a strict diet from here on out to keep it under control.  I have a follow up blood draw next week to make sure it's helping; wish me luck!

This week my co workers threw me a surprise baby shower; I truly was surprised (and I'm not an easy person to surprise).  They had a great breakfast and gifts, and it was all organized by my team, which meant so much to me.  They even tried to have Jason there, but unfortunately he was in Orlando for the past two days.  I told them at work last week that I wouldn't be returning when the baby was born, and while I am looking forward to this transition and change, I am going to miss the wonderful people I supervise and have the opportunity to work with everyday.  Baby and I will be making lots of trips to campus for walks and lunches. 

My lovely team!

My parents are coming for a quick visit this weekend and my baby shower is this weekend!  I am really looking forward to the shower, and so happy my mom will get to be there to celebrate. 

Nesting is in full force around here.  We bought some more items at Target, got the car windows tinted (Arizona sun is a bit intense for tiny babies!), bought a glider / recliner that should be here soon, and lovely gifts from our registry keep flowing in.  We are enjoying getting things ready, feeling more prepared for when baby decides to make their grand entrance.

David Sedaris

I forgot to mention in my previous post that this Friday we got to see a reading from David Sedaris at NAU.  He's a wonderfully hilarious author who writes a lot of embellished autobiographical stories.  I've read a lot of his books and his reading did not disappoint -- hilarious.
Grab one of his books if you need a good laugh.

Third Trimester

Well I've made it to the third trimester - 28 weeks and counting!  It is so hard to believe how fast it is moving, our little one will be here before we know it.  We are starting to collect some gear; we got the first part of our car seat in the mail this week...Jason is excited to practice.  We thought about strapping Maddie in and taking her for a drive...not sure that will end well.  We are collecting more clothes and putting together some pieces in the baby's room. My favorite part (scratch that - only enjoyable part) of pregnancy is that baby bounces around all day.  I really love sitting in a meeting at work and feeling little feet and arms wiggle around.

Last weekend we were in Phoenix with some friends from South Carolina.  It was record highs, hitting 100 on Sunday.  Saturday we rented a cabana by the pool and swam and relaxed.  Swimming while pregnant was amazing, I felt weightless (no small feat lately!).  It was really nice to see our good friends and get out of town for a couple of days.

Jason's last big work trip before baby was 2 weeks ago in London.  He's got a few smaller, closer trips still coming up, but at least he'll be around now pretty consistently.  That is a great thing because it is increasingly difficult for me to do a lot of things with any great sense of urgency / grace.

I have a baby shower coming up at the end of May and my parents are able to visit; it will be nice to be able to have my mom there to share in the joy and excitement! 

Today's agenda includes a long walk in the park and soft-serve yogurt -- not a bad day.
xoxo - Helen, Jason & Peanut

Coronado Island

We went to Coronado, California a couple of weeks ago for a quick vacation, and I really didn't want to leave!  It was a bit chilly and over cast, but we got some sun too.  A lot of walks on the beach, good food, naps, all the ingredients of a relaxing vacation.  On our morning walks on the beach:

The 1906 Lodge, a perfect place to stay:

We went to San Diego Zoo.  I've been a few times, but it was Jason's first visit; it is my favorite zoo.  Our favorites were the Gorillas, Hippo, and Polar Bears.  We bought a little stuffed polar bear for our Peanut:)

We took a ferry from Coronado to San Diego for lunch.  So wonderful to be on the water!!  We really miss that in AZ.  From the ferry:

At the port in San Diego:

We wanted to get a "belly" picture on the trip and Jason snapped this on the beach.  It's my favorite picture to date and I look forward to saving this to share with our little one one day.

I've been feeling really good, and surprised at how we keep growing and growing!  Peanut is wiggling, punching, and bouncing around and some of his punches and kicks are even strong enough now that we can see my stomach move.  Jason gets a real kick out of those too.  It's so amazing and I could just watch my belly all day.  Baby is especially active when I first wake up and in the evening when I'm relaxing on the couch.


It's been snowing all day today and Jason's in London.  I just hid inside and did some cleaning and laundry.  Hope to get out tomorrow and see Titanic 3D -- I was obsessed with that movie when it first came out.

Until next update...

4th and 31

No, it's not a football down; it was our 4th Anniversary and my 31st Birthday a couple weeks ago.  Jason and I exchange traditional wedding anniversary gifts, which forces us to be creative sometimes.  This year wasn't too tough for him though, it was flowers and fruit.  He got me these beautiful flowers, and I made him a fruit tart and some and flowers out of slim jims - quite a hit.

We went to Prescott, AZ over my birthday weekend, checked out the town and had lunch at The Lone Spur Cafe.  It was a surprisingly good lunch.  The picture above is outside the cafe in their "jail".

Prescott has a really fun street called "Whiskey Row" where a lot of college kids and bikers go to party.  We hope to partake of the fun sometime post baby.  It was St. Pat's day and there were plenty of revelers enjoying themselves.

I also got these wonderful flowers from Jason's brother, Kurt, and his girlfriend Kasia.

My house really smelled yummy for a few days with all those flowers.  I also got some great gifts from my friends and family.  We got about 1 ft. of snow on my birthday, so I watched Netflix episodes of "Friday Night Lights" and let my hubby cook me lots of yummy food.  Icing on the cake is that the Monday after was a snow day!

We also had another addition to the baby's room, the crib! Jason worked his butt off on my birthday in between cooking and shoveling to put together this gorgeous crib.  I'm so in love and it looks great.  Next up is shelves!

Hello!

Say "hello" to our little one!  This is from our 20 week Ultrasound and  he / she was wriggling around like crazy; the Ultrasound Tech. had a difficult time getting a full profile shot.   In this shot they were sucking their thumb, although it looks like they are giving the middle finger - lol.  It's the umbilical cord in the background.
All organs and parts were working and size and weight looked good too.

I'll be 22 weeks on Tuesday and by the end of that week they should be 8 inches and 1 full pound.  Quite a long way from the size of my thumbnail!

Last week was so busy and the cold I've been fighting finally caught up with me.  I was home on Friday and all weekend I've been hibernating. Jason left for Netherlands on Friday, but he'll be home Thursday in time for our 4th Anniversary celebration.  This coming weekend is also my 31st birthday and we are going to take a day trip to Prescott, AZ and dinner with friends Saturday night.

xoxo - Helen, Jason & the Peanut