37 Weeks

On Monday night, Travis told me "Happy full term day!" (the cutie!); and it is SUCH a relief to be full term, and know that no matter when our baby girl decides to show up, she's fully developed and should be OK. :)
On Tuesday night, some sweet girls from my ward threw me a baby shower.
Here I am before the shower:


I had SUCH a good time at it and received such thoughtful gifts for baby Bethany (and even some pampering things for me :) ).
The sweet gifts Bethany and I received:


A close-up of some of the home made gifts (a receiving blanket with matching burp cloths, a rag quilt, a crocheted hat, and a diaper bag; SO cute, right?!):

We really have such a GREAT group of friends out here, and it's so nice to have them as a pseudo family while we're so far away from home.

On Thursday, we went to my Dr. appt and learned that: I am 2 cm dialated, 80% effaced, that the baby's head is still down and "right there" (which my hips and pelvis can attest to), and that the Dr. predicts I'll have baby Bethany a week early. It's so surreal to have "progressed" and know that Bethany could really come any time. I'm so grateful that my mom decided to change her flight to 2 weeks earlier so she can watch Grace for us during Bethany's early arrival!

We are anxious, but VERY excited to meet and snuggle our little Bethany Adelle!!

Patterson Farms 2011

We wanted one last family fun day as just the three of us, so on Monday we headed out to our favorite Fall spot--Patterson Farms. We've gone to Patterson's every year we've been here and have a great time every time we go!
After days of rain, Grace was SO excited for the opportunity to play and run around outside.
Waiting for the tractor ride:


Grace got really into the slides this year, and Travis and I loved going down them too!


50 ft slide:




Tree house slide:




She LOVED walking through the leaves...


and throwing them too:


The tractors have always been a favorite of Grace's, and it was fun to see her drive herself on some of them this year:


She sticks out her tongue these days when she's concentrating hard on something. Too cute!


The sandboxes are another of her longtime favorite things to play in at Patterson's:




One of the things Travis and I enjoy doing there every year is stilt walking, and although a year had passed, I thought we still did pretty good!




We attempted the corn mazes too, but they were just too muddy from all the recent rain. (Travis was trying to get Grace to touch the sign, but she kept pointing at me instead (silly girl!)):


This was the first year that Grace really got in to the tree house in the woods, and she LOVED it! It was a testament to how well she's been doing on play structures at the park this summer. :)


We made lots of trips across the bridges:




She was determined to be like this other big girl and go up to the tower, and though I opted out (narrow staircase + pregnant lady = no go), with Travis' help, she did it!


Swinging on the tree house's tire swing with dad:


Driving a big wood tractor. Here she's peeking through the front at dad.


Walking through the beautiful woods, like we always love to do:




While we were there, I couldn't help but take some pictures of the beautiful foliage. Here are a few of my favorites from the day:








We had a great time!

Build A Bear for Baby Bethany

Last Saturday, we took a family field trip to Build A Bear Workshop. I had read an article in a parenting magazine on ways to help older children adjust to a new baby, and one of the things the article had suggested was having the older sibling be involved in picking out and giving the baby a special present. I thought this was a great idea, and decided, what better gift than a special teddy bear that Grace helped make herself? So, to Build A Bear we went!
First we picked out a soft bear similar to the one Grace has, then brought it over to the different "building" stations.
Here Grace is pushing the pedal on the machine that puts the stuffing in the bear:




Picking out a heart to put inside the bear (Grace picked out 2 checkered ones):


The "workshop helper" told Grace to touch the hearts to different parts of her body, like her brain and heart, to help the bear be smart and loving, etc. Grace diligently did as she was told. ;)


And then she stuffed the hearts inside the now stuffed bear:


Checking out the machine before we moved on:


The next step was to give the bear a bath and brush it. Grace loved brushing the bear, and used several brushes to do so. ;)


And finally, we made a birth certificate for the bear and packed it in a box to take home.


It was a fun experience, and something that I hope will be a special thing for both of the girls, not only at the hospital (when Grace presents it to Bethany), but in years to come too (Bethany knowing that her older sister made a special gift for her, and Grace remembering that she did so too).

36 Week Update

That's right folks! In less than 4 weeks, our baby girl will be here!
We went to the Dr. today for our weekly check-up/36 week ultrasound, and everything is looking good! It was such a treat to get to have an ultrasound at this point in the pregnancy, and although we didn't get a good view of baby Bethany's face (since she was turned the wrong way, the stinker!), we DID get a clear view of her little heart and spine, and we also got to hear her heart beating nice and strong. It seemed so weird to not be able to see most of her little body from one point of view; she's gotten so big! The Dr. didn't check my belly size, but he did say she's measuring 5 lbs 12 oz right now, and is on track to be right about Grace's birth weight (of 7 lbs 3 oz), which I must say is a relief, as I'd been worrying she'd be bigger (and I'm desperately hoping not to tear/have an episiotomy this time). He also said her head is still down, and that the fluids around her looked good. (He didn't bother "checking" me since I wasn't dialated at all last week and haven't had many braxton hicks contractions this week, which was fine with me, but I will get checked next week.) We were so glad to get all of this good news!
As far as baby prep, our house is now completely deep cleaned and organized (minus the fridge and basement), and the baby's nursery is just a quick sweep and rearranging of a few things away from being ready as well. :) Having all this done definitely makes me feel more ready for baby Bethany's coming, which is coming very fast! Having taken a tour of the maternity wing at the hospital (last Saturday) has helped us feel ready as well, as the rooms and nurses were all SO nice and they seemed to anticipate our every need and wish for our delivery and post partum care too. Now we just need to wash Bethany's car seat and pack our hospital bag and we will be (physically) ready to go!
And here's a picture of me from Sunday:

Til next week!

Our Performing Grace

Grace has been really into singing and running around in circles lately, and has begun "reading" more and more books to us and noticing/recognizing print everywhere we go. Here are a couple videos from today of Grace doing her latest favorite things.

35 Weeks

Since my last update, baby girl has "dropped" (this happened last Thursday--I think the 2 1/2 hours I spent at the zoo with Grace did the trick), and I've experienced some contractions (mostly this past Sunday; they were 3-5 minutes apart for an hour, and we were more than a little concerned that baby girl might come early; but thankfully the contractions stopped and I haven't had any regular ones since :)).
I went to the Dr. today and she said that the baby's heartbeat is strong, that I'm measuring right on, that I'm not dilated at all yet (which I was a little surprised at because baby girl sure feels like she's in place and ready to go), and that the baby's head is down (hooray!). I can't believe this was my last 2 week appt, and that (as of tomorrow) I have only 1 month of this pregnancy left!!! The Dr. also told me that at my appt. next week, she'll do an ultrasound to see how big the baby is and make sure everything looks OK (which I wasn't expecting, but am very grateful for).
As far as baby prep goes, our little scare on Sunday kicked us into gear for the final preparations, so the baby's bed is now set up, her clothes are washed and put away, and the diaper station is set up too (I'd post pictures, but we still have a little more organizing to do before the "baby area" of our room is complete).
And speaking of complete, a pregnancy post wouldn't be without a belly pic, so here's one of me from last Saturday (just after I got my hair cut):

33 Weeks

This week finds me officially a week into my 8th month of pregnancy! According to "What to Expect," our baby girl currently weighs about 4 1/2 lbs, is around 19 inches long, and finally has opaque (non-see through) skin. It's crazy to think how close she is right now to what she'll look like at delivery (and OH are we curious to see how this little one will look, especially compared to Grace--will she look like a little Grace? Will she look completely different?)!
At the Dr.'s office this past Thursday, I learned that the baby's heart beat continues to be strong, and that she'd measuring right on. :) The Dr. also gave me the good news that although baby #2 won't necessarily come early, she should come fast (typical 1st labors last about 12 hours, whereas 2nd labors are only 4 or so hours long!), which I am SUPER excited about! We've been finalizing our birth plan this past week and can only hope that everything actually does go according to plan (a vaginal birth with an epidural and no tearing). I can't deny that I feel kinda nervous about the delivery (who doesn't I guess), but having gone through it once before definitely decreases my anxiety. I'm just so grateful that I'll have my super coach Travis with me no matter what. :)
I can't believe that (as of tomorrow) I only have 6 weeks left, and that my next Dr. appt will be my last bi-weekly one! Thankfully some nesting urges have kicked back in to help me get through the final baby preparations.
Well, last but not least, here's a baby bump pic from this week (taken yesterday):

P.S. In case you were interested, the name for baby girl #2 will be (as of now) Bethany Adelle Holloway.