Today is our due date.

June 29th, 2012.

40 weeks have come and gone.

Although it seems like it has been a long time since I first took those pregnancy tests, the time has gone faster than I imagined.

I have been told by lots of women that once my baby is born, it will have all been worth it.

Well, I think I already feel that way.

I know there will be nothing like holding our little boy for the first time..and knowing I wont have to let go of him for a long time.

I am not having any contractions today so apparently he wants a different birthday, but we are okay with that.

 We'll give him a few more days, then follow doctors orders.

I love my little growing family

<3

My mom got into town on Wednesday and we ended up having to stay in Salt Lake for a bit. My mom flew standby but was able to catch an earlier flight at the last second. Because she flew standby, however, her bag still didn't arrive till her original later flight. We decided we would go to the Gateway for dinner at Tucanos; Nate's suggestion. We love this place- it's better and less expensive than Rodizio Grill. I couldn't get enough of the bacon-wrapped filet and the teriyaki beef. I usually go, having not ate much the rest of the day, but this was a last minute decision so I couldn't put down as much as I usually can ;) But that's probably a good thing.

The next day was my doctor's appointment where we found out that there hadn't been enough progression to go through with the scheduled induction on Monday. I was a little bummed out and emotional. Not because I was excited to be induced, but because in my mind I was set on having our son on Monday. It's hard not to feel guilty for not having progressed but I have to keep telling myself that there isn't a whole lot I can do. I am doing my best to be patient and at this point I am fine waiting till our boy is ready.

Saturday night/Sunday morning we thought that was totally the case. I woke up at about 2:45am having some contractions that seemed to get more and more intense. I got up and walked around the kitchen for a while then went back in our bedroom. Nate was so sweet and made sure I was as comfortable as could be. He even got up and went to get me a snack since I ended up being awake for about 3 hours. Unfortunately, after that, they started to go away and I fell back asleep. I woke up kind of sad in the morning but got ready and headed to church.

On Wednesday was Nate's day off - My favorite day I look forward to! We usually have errands to run all day but I we had planned was taking my mom to Kneaders and getting their French Toast. I am pretty much obsessed with it and it had become and almost weekly Wednesday breakfast :) On our way home Nate wanted to get a smile on my face (since I was bored having nothing else planned) and he stopped at our local feed store. He needed to get lawn fertilizer but went there mostly for me to get to see the baby farm animals they have. Last time they had baby lambs and goats but this time it was baby bunnies, chickens, and pigs! The pigs we SO cute!!! Nate is so funny and thoughtful, he'll do almost anything to see me smile :) Love that man.

Tonight Nate and I had our last Date Night before my family starts getting to Utah and our baby arrives. We decided to try a new place called Bandito's in Layton. Overall, the food was okay. But it was nice to be out with my hubby for the last time for a while. After dinner we get a yummy drink to celebrate :)

I love Date Night's with Nate and am looking forward to getting back to them at some point!

Nate's birthday was way fun! After he got off work we met up at his parents house with a few of our friends. We had a bbq pool party with hot dogs, (my grammy's) potato salad, chips & dip, watermelon, smores,  and "Better Than Sex Anything Cake" with ice cream! We enjoyed swimming, pool volleyball & basketball, and sitting around the fire pit. It was a fun relaxing night and probably one of our last fun nights with our friends before the little guy gets here.

That weekend was full of celebrations. The next day, Saturday, June 16th, was 2 years since Nate and I met at Denny's. We have a tradition to go to Denny's that day each year and getting a treat. I got a strawberry shake and Nate got an Apple Pie Shake.

That is the only day out of the year that we find ourselves at Denny's because neither of us love the place. That kind of shows even more how special it is that we both happen to be there and meet that night. As funny and weird as our meeting place was, I wouldn't choose it any other way :)

The following day was Father's Day. I told Nate, like he did to me on Mother's Day, "It's your big day!" Every time I would ask him what he wanted for Father's Day he would say nothing, because he hasn't done much to be a Father yet. Well, that is totally wrong! Aside from how much he already loves our little one, he has helped me through the pregnancy more than I could even ask. Sure, I am carrying baby. But Nate is basically carrying me. I couldn't have done this without him and I am so grateful for his love and support. I cannot wait to see him hold our son and see the love and bond between them. I also hope he looks like Nate :)

I talked to my dad that day, too. I miss him and can't wait for him to come up to visit our little guy.  I love my daddy-o!

On June 6th, my husbands side of the family threw me a baby shower! It was so much fun and I got to see family which was nice. I got a lot more gifts and my sister-in-law Michelle made me a diaper cake! It was way cute and covered with tons of great baby things. We had yummy individual pineapple upside down cakes. I have the best families ever, I feel so blessed!

That Friday I was 37 weeks, full-term! I have said this before, but I really can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by! As excited as we are to have our baby boy in our arms, I know I am going to miss feeling him move around in my tummy. It's the best feeling (so far.)

That same day I went to my sister and brother-in-laws for our niece and nephews birthday parties! Our niece turned 1 and our nephew turned 6. They are such cute kids and we love watching them grow!

The following Tuesday that same sister-in-law had her dance recital; she teaches clogging. Two of our nieces were in the recital and they were adorable! It made me excited to (hopefully) have a girl one day and watch her dance recitals!

Nate and I also got our entire garage cleaned out and organized, it was a lot of work. Now we can finally get both cars in there :) But more importantly, I'm no longer afraid of how many spiders might be hiding behind everything.

And today....Today is Nate's birthday!!!

He is 29 years old and cuter than ever :)

I love him oh so much! He really is the most amazing guy I could have ever married. We love each other so much and have fun every single day. I would be missing out on so much if I hadn't found him. He always makes me laugh, he supports me with thing I want to do, he makes sure I am ok and comfortable, and has been amazing during this pregnancy. I can't wait to have him by my side during delivery; I can tell he will be awesome because he even is at my doctor appointments. I love him forever and can't wait to spend eternity with him!

Right now I am making food for his birthday tonight. This morning I gave him his birthday gift; a fancy dry/wet electric shaver. But when we tried it out, the darn thing didn't fit correctly on the charging stand. I think the wrong stand was put in the box for it. Boo.

Oh well, I will get him a new one soon :)

Baby, I had a dream about you last night. You were here and I was figuring out how you liked being held. And how you liked the blanket wrapped around you. Daddy & I talked about you last night (like we do all the time) and I told him how excited I was to have you here. But I also told him that I would miss you being in my belly. I know I will miss being that close to you always and being able to feel your every move within me.

I picked out 3 outfits this morning to bring you home in from the hospital. I know you are going to look so darn cute! 

On Friday, Daddy played some music for you next to my belly to see what you liked. You danced more to Drake and Boyce Avenue than anything else. It was so fun!

May was a pretty fun month!

The first week, Nate and I got to swim in his parents new pool for the first time. It was sooo nice and relaxing. It was kind of strange being in a pool while being 7 months pregnant...it kind of made me feel I wasn't pregnant anymore because all of the weight felt as if it disappeared. 

It was nice, but at the same time it made me want our boy to be here so he could really swim with us! We are excited to take him in the pool :) Meanwhile, Nate and I get to be silly in the pool and act like little kids!

Also that week, the wives in my cul-de-sac threw me a baby shower! They were so sweet and generous and I had such a good time :) I love these ladies!

(Emily, Vari, Me, Sarah)

The following week, Nate took me to one of our favorite places: The Wild Grape. The Wild Grape is a bistro in Salt Lake City where we have some great memories. This is the restaurant Nate took me for my birthday a few months after we started dating. It was such a romantic date that ended with an amazing gift of a matching sapphire ring and necklace.

Our second trip to the The Wild Grape was the night that Nate proposed to me a couple of months later. You can read that post
Here.

Our third time at The Wild Grape was on our wedding day. This is where we decided to have our wedding luncheon because it is so special to us. It was perfect; we had a great time!

So it was really nice to go back and visit since we hadn't been there since our wedding. I love love love this place for so many reasons. One reason being...Prickly Pear Lemonade:

This is what I had to drink on my birthday and I fell in love with it! So much so that is was one of our drink choices at our wedding lunch. I was pretty excited this time to order a Prickly Pear Lemonade, it was just as yummy as I remembered. I hope this restaurant never closes and we can visit there with our children.



That Sunday was Mother's Day. The days leading up to it Nate would say "It's almost your big day!" It was so cute and funny because he says this to people, usually being sarcastic. But when he said it to me t felt like he meant it. Saturday night when it was time for me to go to bed, he said "Tomorrow is your big day!" and then turned on some music on his phone. He turned on "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker and sang it to me. It was so sweet and I don't even think he knows how happy it made me. He really is the sweetest person I could ever ask for. He makes me smile so many ways and goes so out of his way to make me happy. The next morning while I was eating breakfast, he went out to the car and came back with a gift for me. He handed me a Sego Lily box! He opened up the service pamphlet and showed me what I was getting...a Maternity Massage and a Facial!

I was so excited and surprised at the same time. I wasn't expecting anything this Mother's Day but he must really love me :) He told me how he appreciates what I have gone through to bring this baby boy to our lives. It's definitely exhausting (and hot) at times but I feel blessed that I have had a fairly easy pregnancy.


The next day I was sitting in Nate's recliner watching TV and I felt baby's hiccups for the very first time. It was the cutest funniest thing ever! Most people don't know this about me but I LOVE getting the hiccups. They make me laugh so hard and then when I do that, my hiccups get even more intense. So when I felt baby's hiccups I couldn't help but laugh. I wonder if he will follow in my footsteps with that? (Nate was able to feel his hiccups a couple of weeks later. It was pretty neat.)

The following week was pretty busy. Tuesday was my 1-hour Maternity Massage...UH-mazing! Man it was so nice. I was worried that it wouldn't be as good as a normal massage since I obviously can't lay on my stomach. It was still just as good though! They had me lay on my side with a body pillow.

 Wednesday, which is Nate's day off, we went to McKay Dee and took a hospital tour to get prepared for being there for delivery.

It was nice to see the different rooms and learn the procedures for when we get there. Afterwards we went to lunch at another one of my favorite restaurants here, The Oaks. It is a indoor/outdoor place nestled in the tree's of the Ogden Canyon right on the river.

I love being able to watch the water go by as I eat. It is SO pretty! We went mainly to get a gift card for one of Nate's amazing co-workers, Laurie, and her husband Greg. These two people are so cool! They are from Boston and just the nicest people ever! One day when Nate and I were out shopping for a rocking chair/glider/lazy-boy for the nursery, we stopped in to his work to look up some places on the internet (since we hadn't had any luck with the places we already went to.) Laurie walked in to his office and asked what we were up to. We told her and told her what we were looking for, and she said to us, "I have one just like that, you guys can have it." We were kind of blown away at yet another generous offer, since we had been given so much already from friends and family for our baby. Laurie insisted we take it because it was just sitting in her basement wrapped up not being used. She said Greg got it to sleep in after his shoulder surgery and has never used it since. That night she sent us a picture of it and it was EXACTLY what we were looking for. We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives that are so willing to help us out!
The next day, Thursday, about 20 of the wives in my ward got together for an "Activity Bag Exchange." Here is where the idea came from. It was great and I am totally ahead of the game as far as activities for our little boy!

Friday I made an appointment to see a family doctor (since my OB wasn't in) because I had been experiencing some pretty stabbing chest pains for a while. I ignored them for the most part until a couple of nights it was unbearable. Nate suggested I see a doctor, which I hardly ever do, but with Long QT Syndrome running in my family I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. It turns out the doctor doesn't think I have Long QT (which I still could - he didn't want to harm the baby by doing an EKG) but he diagnosed me with Costochondritis: Costochondritis (kos-toe-KHON-dri-tis) is an inflammation of the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone (sternum) — a junction known as the costosternal joint. Pain caused by costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack or other heart conditions. Yeah..pretty darn painful.
And Saturday was the Hill Air Force Base Memorial Weekend Air Show: Warriors Over The Wasatch. We live super close to the base; we hear and see jets fly over our house every single day. I had never been to an air show before so I decided I was going to go. By myself (well, and baby boy.) If you know me well, you know I don't usually enjoy doing things like this alone, but I was determined. Nate had to work and I just really wanted to see it. So I headed up to Maverick, got a Caffeine-Free Diet Coke (my first time, I kind of loved it), some Sun Chips, and headed to find a place to park my car and watch. I had a perfect view in the parking lot next to the runway thing (I don't know what that place is called.) It was pretty cool watching the planes.

 I loved seeing the sky-divers jump out and all leave red smoke trails behind them as they came down. Pretty cool!

Lastly, the following Thursday, the 3 wives in our cul-de-sac and I got together for lunch for Vari's birthday. She didn't know if was for her birthday until we brought out a gift for her! Her, her husband, and their 5 kids are all taking their first trip to Disneyland this week and so we thought of putting together a Disney Trip Survival Basket for her. It consisted of 2 magazines, gum, soda, trail mix, an eye mask for sleeping, lotion, a mini first aid kit, ear plugs, migraine medicine, chap stick, tissues, hand sanitizer, heath bars, and sun glasses. It was great because when she opened it she said there were a lot of those things she actually still needed to get for her trip! And, the sun glasses looked cute on her :) It was fun sitting on her porch having Kneaders lunch (SO yum!) I love those ladies, I love that I live in such a great place with great friends!