37, 38 or 39?

When I went to the doctor for what I thought was my 36th week check up on January 29th I was informed that I have been measuring 2 weeks big and the computer said I was really 37 weeks. I got panicked because my new due date was February 19th- the 2nd day of Parent Teacher Conferences. I have really been telling myself during this whole pregnancy that the baby would come late and hoped she would come on Saturday the 28th. During that Dr.'s appointment I also found out I was dilated to a 2. I calmed myself down, but still had some sort of a "reality check" that the baby really may come early. On Thursday Feb. 5th I had my next check up and found out I'm dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. I'm still really hoping that the baby will stay in until the 20th or 21st. Yes, many of you may think I'm crazy, but February is a crazy month at school. I have a student teacher right now who is just starting her lead teaching Monday. I would feel terrible if I abandoned her during her 2 weeks of lead teaching. I really hope to make it through as much of her time as possible. Her last day is the 20th so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! As I mentioned earlier, I also have Parent Teacher Conferences on the 18th and 19th. Grades are due the 27th and our report cards are pretty intense. We grade each standard from the state core. Beyond all of those reasons I really want to work for as long as possible so I can go back for the shortest amount of time possible. My plan is to work part time after my 6 weeks of maternity leave. I'll work mornings M-Th and full days each Friday. My sub will work the afternoons so things should go smoothly. It will make for some really sad paychecks, but I'll get to be with my baby a lot and I know that will definitely be worth it. Although I'd love to have a few more weeks to work and get everything ready all of this excitement has really helped it settle in that we are really having a baby! We are both very excited to finally see her. If it were up to Gustavo I'd go into labor right now. I'm still hoping for the 21st though! We'll just wait and see. I'll make sure to keep you all updated.

32 Week Belly

I am 32 weeks along so I have about 8 weeks left. My head is constantly spinning with different thoughts about babies and being a mom. I realize that our life is about to change drastically, but of course I can't even comprehend it because nothing like this has ever happened to us before so I have nothing to liken it to. I feel like 8 weeks is a good amount of time because it will still allow us time to be with one another and to get a few more things done. At the same time I feel like 8 weeks is still a lot of time for more crazy things to happen to my body. I feel comfortable for the most part. I'm used to being nauseous and I don't get as frustrated by throwing up or dry heaving. I don't like it, but I'm used to it. I am also used to my huge stomach, but the bigger it gets the more anxious I become. I have had a few negative changes over the break as a result of pregnancy so I am constantly receiving reality checks about the fun things that I still have in store. I am scared to death about labor. Everyone has had such different experiences so I feel like I can't even prepare myself mentally. While I know everything will be alright, I still just feel like I want to cry every time I talk about labor with anyone. I told my sisters and my doctor that I think I'm just going to cry from the time I go into labor until she comes because I'm so scared! I know it will all be worth it. Lets just hope that I really have about 8 weeks and that she doesn't come early. I don't know how I would handle that.

Christmas Break

I can't help but feel disappointed that this break is quickly coming to an end. We still have today and tomorrow, but then it is back to school and our regular routine. We have had so much fun spending time with family and friends. My sister Megan and her family came home so we have had lots of fun spending time with the WHOLE family. Over this break my grandma Kramer passed away which was very difficult, but also nice because we were all able to say goodbye (something I've never had the chance to do before). This provided lots of opportunities to reflect on her legacy and my personal testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. When I think about the life of my grandma and her example I think of the way her testimony was always reflected in her actions. She was very knowledgeable and shared her testimony constantly through conversation and deed. I am so grateful for the relationship that I had with her. I hope that I can take from her example and become a better person.
Along with spending lots of time with my sisters we have been able to spend time with Gustavo's family. Laz and his wife Emily came home for Christmas too and we always love spending time with them. We're glad that they will be back out here in just a few short months to see the babies. Yolanda, Gustavo's little sister, is due in 3 weeks and so they'll come out in April to see her son and our little girl.
We all met Christmas morning at my parent's house for breakfast where Elena offered a prayer which included "Please bless that we will all like the presents we open at Grandma and Grandpa's house." Her prayer was answered because we got a Wii! Megan has spent many hours playing Guitar Hero and the girls have all enjoyed bowling as well as the other games.
On New Year's Eve all of us, except Eleanor because she was in Vegas with her friend Matt, went over to Em and Corey's house to eat lots of food and play games. The adults and Emily's oldest girls Anne and Abbey were upstairs playing Guitar Hero and Ticket to Ride while the little girls were playing throughout the house.

As many of you know I have 9 nieces and 1 nephew. My baby will be the 11th grandchild and 10th granddaughter. It is great because most of the kids have come in "batches." Emily's oldest are 9 and 7, but then all three of my older sisters have daughters that are 5 and daughters that are 2. The 2 year olds are still a little scary together because they are 2 so they all want the same toys and don't play with each other yet. The 5 year olds are hilarious. They all love each other... most of the time.
I took this picture of the 3 girls while they were playing. As you can see in this picture where they posed themselves, they are usually best friends. Of course, they don't always get along. It couldn't have been more than one minute after I went upstairs from being with the girls that Eowyn was sobbing and Olivia came running up to inform us that Elena threw something at Eowyn so she was bleeding. Sure enough Eowyn had a bloody nose. Everything calmed down quickly, but all of the chaos throughout the night had my head spinning with the fact that by next year we will have another baby to add to the mix. Overwhelming, but exciting!

Ella's Room

I have been meaning to post pictures of the nursery since Thanksgiving, but I haven't done it yet. I guess I've been busy or lazy- I'm not sure which one. We still have decorating to do, but here are the most updated pictures. I am happy to show you the furniture that we chose and the finished walls. Thanks for your input about the crib, as you can see I definitely listened to your feedback!

This is the bedding we decided on and you can also see my new stroller!

Our sweet neighbors gave us this bassinet and my aunt gave us that bouncy chair, a car seat, and 2 bases. I didn't anticipate getting any hand-me-downs since all of my sisters are still having babies, but we have been pleasantly surprised by the people who have thought to share their old baby things with us. We are very grateful for all of the kindness people have shown us.

Here is our adorable changing table! We'll fill the empty basket with diapers and put her blankets and other diapering things on the top shelf.

My New Love...BABY CLOTHES

I LOVE baby clothes. I have spent so much money on clothes for our baby. It is hard to imagine that when I was first pregnant I really wanted to have a boy. Don't get me wrong, I would love a boy and I will be thrilled to have a boy one day, but right now I can only think pink. The week of our ultrasound I started thinking that I'd better prepare myself just in case we found out we were having a girl (even though no one thought I'd have a girl so I was pretty convinced we were having a boy). We went to baby GAP and even then I was so drawn to the boys section and didn't really see anything I liked for baby girls. Now I don't know how I could have ever thought that. I still love little boy clothes and enjoy looking at my little nephews' clothes, but nothing makes me as happy as adorable baby girl clothes. I'm addicted!

Gratitude

Don't you just love all of the little things in life that make your day? Here are the top 10 for today:

10. At Costco I got a book with their Thanksgiving weekend sales and the Kitchen Aid mixer I want will be $50 less.
9. I'm getting closer to deciding on my crib. I still haven't bought it, but I think I know what I'll do. Also, the bedding I like is on Ebay so I plan on being part of the inevitable bidding war this Saturday. Maybe I'll get lucky.
8. The weather here has been beautiful- about 60 degrees.
7. I was worried that over the last 2 weeks I'd gained lots of weight because I haven't been to the gym. At my doctors appointment I was happy to see that I've gained 11 lbs. That is what I was hoping for!
6. I only have 2 more days of school this week and only 2 days next week!
5. My kids are starting to write letters to me now so I get little notes like the one today that said "I like you. I wish you cood be my taechaer forevr. Frum ..." There is a labeled picture to go along with it of the student and "Gonzolis". Those are the best!
4. Thanks to my sweet neighbor Briti, I have a new SIMPLE recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Here it is:
1 spice cake mix
1 small can (15 oz.) of pumpkin
1 cup of chocolate chips
Mix those 3 ingredients and drop by spoonful on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 16-18 minutes. How simple is that!
3. I bought a really cute maternity sweater at Old Navy for only $12. What a deal! I almost bought 2 just because it was so great.
2. Today I filled up my tank for $20.69. Who thought gas would come down so much?
1. At our ultrasound yesterday we found out that our little girl (Ella?) has a "beautiful" heart and that everything looks great. Hooray!

Nursery

I have had the main plan for a nursery in my head for years now, far before we started trying to have a baby. That isn't very surprising coming from me though is it! I chose the colors and started painting before I found out I was pregnant (the day before to be exact). My mom is amazing and she helped us tremendously. I must say that Gustavo has been wonderful as well. I usually take control of the home projects, but I've needed more help with this one and he has really stepped in. Here is what we have so far:


I LOVE IT! We bought a bookshelf and baskets from IKEA and ordered our changing table on Saturday. We planned to order the crib on Saturday as well, but when we went to Salt Lake to see the crib we thought we wanted neither of us liked it. We are now trying to decide what to do. Here are my top 3 options along with each choice's pros and cons. I'd LOVE your input so please comment!

Option #1


Pros: This is black and would match the other furniture well. I should be able to get a good price on it. Yolanda bought a black Da Vinci crib and it looks great and seems to be a high quality crib.

Cons: I can't see it in person. I don't know if the back seems awkwardly high?


Option #2- but the color would be espresso, not this light stain


Pros: This crib is beautiful! The picture doesn't do it justice. I've seen it in baby rooms online and in person and I always love it. It is very high quality and Gustavo and I love it.

Cons: It is the most expensive and the color is espresso, so it wouldn't match the black changing table or black/brown IKEA bookshelf perfectly. I don't know if that bothers me though. It doesn't come with the toddler rails and the other 2 do (do I really care though?)

Option #3

Pros: I think it looks really nice. It was one I was initially drawn to when I first started looking at cribs. It is a great price (on sale right now for $50 off regular price). It comes with toddler rails. It would be a great headboard when it converts to a full size bed.

Cons: Again, I can't see it in person. It only has one review. The review is extremely positive, but there is only one. I don't know about the quality of the crib. I don't like the small metal plates on the front of the crib.

I don't know which one to choose, but I think I like #2 and #3 the best. Gustavo is strongly leading towards crib #2 and when we were in the store I said "this would be my dream crib"- that is how much I loved it when I saw it. I plan on using the crib for all of my children and then using it as a full size bed eventually. I don't know if I'll ever use it as a toddler bed or day bed though. I like them all for different reasons and like I said, I would love to hear what you all think!