Ella Kate's Room

I have been waiting to post this for quite awhile as I was waiting on a few more finishing touches for the room to come in. Figured it was finally time to post now that we only have 3 weeks left (give or take) until the little one's arrival.

As I posted earlier, I already showed you the inspirations for Ella Kate's room, so now let me share how it all came together.

When you first walk into the the nursery this is what you will see straight ahead. I have set up a little nursing corner for all of those late night feedings.
We had the cross made by Prairie Crosses who we found in Canton. I gave her the fabrics from the bedding and describe what I wanted and she did a great job! The valance was made by my mom. We found the fabric that matched the bedding and she just threw it together. I think it came out great. We ordered the glider and ottoman from Babies R Us and though I swear I ordered a white chair with brown cushions, pink and white is what came in the mail. Worked out well as that is what we really wanted, but the website kept saying it was out of stock. Guess they knew what I really was looking for!

To your right as you enter is my favorite area of the room, the crib!

We had the bedding made by Rocking Horse Bedding who we also found at First Monday in Canton. They did such a great job and the bedding is just what I wanted. The bear that is in the corner of the crib actually plays a heartbeat and sounds like that to help the baby remember the sounds of the womb. The blanket we have hanging over the side of the crib we got at a baby shower and has her name monogrammed on it and matches just perfectly!

On the same wall as the door is the changing table and hutch.

We tried our best to keep clutter off the changing part of the dresser so right now things look really clean, I sure hope it stays that way! I have put a few turtles and books on the shelves, and not surprisingly at all, all of the cupboards and drawers are nice and full with diapers, blankets, sheets, etc. All of those great essentials I will need.

At the top of the dresser is Ella Kate's first collection. My dad has been getting dolls from the different countries that he visits for his little granddaughter. He collects different types of money for his grandson. We think it will be neat years from now for each of them to have something from all over the world.

Here is a closer picture of the dolls - from left Columbia, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, and Russia

To the left of the door is another dresser.

Of course we have this whole dresser full too. On top we have Ella Kate's little piggy bank which we have already started to fill with a little money to put towards her college fund. Next to that is a frame that we will be putting her baptism picture in when we do that in October. The rest of the items I posted earlier that I got at Hobby Lobby. Then of course we have the much needed humidifier, I hear this is a necessity!

Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of our nursery. I am still waiting on a painting that will hang above her bed and once that comes in I will post a picture of that too. I am so glad that it has all come together! Just a few more weeks...

Church Baby Shower and Update

On Saturday the women at my church threw me a wonderful shower to celebrate the imminent coming of little miss Ella Kate! We had a wonderful turnout and it was a great two hours of friends, food, and fellowship. Here are just a few pictures from the event.

The cake and gorgeous flowers courtesy of Heather. She did a great job of decorating and getting everything set up!

Lori (who is due with baby 3 in February) and her little girl. She also has a little boy that is 2.

Mom and I in front of the food and cake table. You know Lutheran's we always have lots of food at events!

Karin and Annabelle Grace. Annabelle will be one in December and I can't wait for her and Ella Kate to hang out.

Mom playing the toilet paper game. She got the size of my belly exactly right. I am pretty sure she cheated some how!

Opening all of the wonderful gifts! We got so many great things including a hand made purple bunny rabbit that is so soft and I can't wait for Ella Kate to love on it!

This week I also had my 35 week check up and so far everything is still right on schedule. Next week I start with my weekly check ups and I am really hoping that he says there is some progress being made. I have been feeling really beat this weekend (might just be the heat) so I really have my fingers crossed that we are moving forward towards delivery day!!!

Trip to LA, Baby Shower, and 33 week check up

This past weekend we headed to Louisiana for what would be our last trip before Ella Kate's birth. I have officially been placed on no travel as I have hit 33 weeks!

We left on Thursday after work and made the 4 1/2 hour drive to Lafayette to stay with my friend Amy. It was almost 10:00 when we made it there so straight to bed we went.

Friday morning we went and visited Amy's family and this is what I was welcomed with:
You can't really read the cupcakes (which were funfetti which is my favorite) but it says "We Can't Wait for Ella Kate!" and yes the cupcakes were delicious but I tried to not eat to many!

After a short visit, we headed to Baton Rouge to eat lunch at Capital City Grill with my old co-workers from the Road Home, one of which is due 9 days before me. It was so great to see them and I hope to see them when Ella Kate and little Gianmario get to meet in a few months.

Here we are after lunch Diana, Me and Ella Kate, Caroline and Gianmario, Keri, and Krystal. Four of us shared very close quarters while we worked for the Road Home and I don't know how anyone got any work done with us around!

After we finished with lunch we headed to Covington to finish off our weekend. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, Zea's, on Friday night and if you are ever in New Orleans, Lafayette, or Covington near a Zea's I highly recommend eating there and get the corn grits! After dinner my good friend from highschool, Talia, who is an Ob/Gyn resident in New Orleans came up to Keith's parents to visit since she got stuck on call during the shower on Saturday. It was so great to see her since it has probably been almost 2 years!

Saturday was my baby shower which was just great! We had a really good turnout and Courtney, Eve, and Breanne did such a great job! Here are a few pictures:

The delicious cake! (Sorry it is sideways... I thought I fixed all the pictures!)

With my wonderful DZ friends! I am so glad they got to come in for the shower! April, Jordan, me, Kelly, and Alexis.

Courtney (hostess) and I. Courtney is due with baby #2 December 8th and she knows what it is and will not tell me! She is killing me! I am going with boy though I have secret hopes its a girl!

Courtney's diaper cake she made! She did such an awesome job with it. Oh to be creative!

Opening gifts! This little dress was made by an Amish woman and has a matching bonnet! So adorable! It was given to me by Keith's grandma

With the great-grandma's (Keith's dad's mom on left and Keith's mom's mom on right). They both have great grandson's so this will be the first great granddaughter!

Saturday night we stayed low key and just grilled hamburgers and hung out. I was ready to crash early and was probably in bed before 10!

Sunday morning we left pretty early since we had a 6 hour trip in front of us. We did make a pitstop in Lafayette though for brunch with Amy and her family and my friend Katie and her little boy Tanner. Katie and Tanner were in from California and I was so glad it worked out that we got to see eachother!

Katie, a very unhappy Tanner, and I at Blue Dog before it was time to hit the road for the last 4 1/2 hours. Though after eating all of that wonderful food I just wanted to go to bed!

It was such a great trip and it was so wonderful to see all of the family and friends that we got to see. Made me realize though that the next time we make that trip, there will be a baby in tow! So Crazy!

Today I had my 33 week check up (only 7 weeks to go!). My doctor was out of the office so it was just a quick check up with the nurse. I have officially hit the 30 lb mark (AHHH!) but they say that everything sounds and looks good and that I am still right on track. I go back in 2 weeks and then will start my weekly check ups from there. I can't believe it is getting so close!

31 Week Check-Up

Well today was my 31 week check up with the doctor and lucky me I had another ultrasound to check on things.

My fluid levels are up from the last ultrasound a month ago and they are estimating her weight at around 3 lb 10 oz at this time (she better slow it down a bit or we are going to have a porker on our hands!). They didn't tell me this the last time, but my placenta was lower than they normally want it to be but it has moved back up to the correct position (if there is one) and will hopefully stay there until delivery. Her head and body parts have evened out their growing and everything is looking right on schedule for 31 weeks and 1 day. Dr. said she sounds and looks great and he has officially released me to make the trip to LA next weekend and I am sooooooo (times 14 billion!) happy! There will definitely be some long posts coming as I have lots of plans to see lots of people while we are down there.

Here are just a few pictures from today:
Of course I have to have a 31 week picture. Starting to really fill out and the once huge maternity clothes are starting to get snug!

You can kind of make out her facial features here. Well at least 2 eye sockets, nose and a small outline of the lips. Does look like she still has a pretty good jawline :)

Here here is her little foot... though as the ultrasound tech said it looks wide (not sure where a wide foot would come from as Keith and I both have the most narrow feet ever) but I am sure it will be long!

And here she is giving us a little thumbs up. Is it just me or does that thumb look awfully long? Guess she has inherited my long fingers!

Well that's it for now. I go back to the dr on the 21st just for a regular check up.

Happy 4th of July and a few other things...

Happy 4th of July to everyone out there! I sure hope everyone is enjoying a day full of BBQ, Family, Friends and Fireworks! Keith is working today so I am taking advantage of a husband free day by getting some laundry done and relaxing away. Plus it is overcast and hot out there so I am glad to be inside.

I haven't really had anything to post about lately as I don't have another doctor's appt until the 7th so I figured I would just share some things having to do with Ella Kate... including baby shower invitations, clothes, and some accent pieces for her room. So enjoy!

This invitation was from my first shower that I had with work. My friend Aubrey handmade each one and she did such an awesome job!

This is the invitation for my shower in Louisiana in two weeks. My friend Courtney picked them out and did such a great job getting all of the colors of Ella Kate's room into them. I am not sure where she ordered them from, but when I find out I will share it.

Of course it is time to start sharing some of the cute clothes that we have bought the little miss. As there are all kinds of sales on summer clothes right now, she won't be able to wear these little outfits until next year, but I am a sucker for a sale so I figured I would stock up now. Oh I can't wait to put her in these!

Flower Dress - Carter's

Brown Plaid top and bloomers - Carter's

Blue ruffled dress - Polo by Ralph Lauren

And of course a future tiger's wardrobe would not be complete without a little purple and gold! Thanks to Nona (Keith's mom) she already has her game day gear ready for the fall and spring and my SIL found the LSU jersey at Goodwill! She is all ready to start cheering on those tigers!

Here are also a few of my recent find for accent pieces in her room thanks to a little trip to Hobby Lobby! I got the frame for about 8 bucks and the lamp for 12! Oh how I love Hobby Lobby and their 50% weeks! Though I am still trying to figure out how they make any money cause you know people have that 50% off alternating schedule memorized and only shop at those times!

One last thing is a prayer request for my SIL's younger sister Ashley. She is currently hospitalized due to some blood clotting problems and though things are definitely looking up from where they were last week I am sure she still has a long road ahead of her.

Well that is about it for now. I have an ultrasound and check-up on Wednesday so I will make sure to update then with a new belly picture and hopefully some good ultrasound pictures of the little lady!

Baby Shower and 28 Week Check-Up

Yesterday evening my co-workers threw a wonderful shower for me and baby Ella Kate. My boss was kind enough to host the shower at her beautiful log cabin (which I wish I would have gotten a picture of) and my friend Aubrey helped her to organize.

Here are just a few pictures from the event.
They felt that the bakers at Wal-Mart were a little confused about the gender of Ella Kate and may have thought that she was a boy.
They made me pose with the cake. Guess we could use this as my 28 week belly picture!

We played one game during the shower which was called the right/left game. Aubrey read a story and every time right or left was said we had to pass the baby bottles full of candy. It was a really cute game and we almost had a few fights over those bottles of candy! You know women and their sugar.

Cutting the cake... which was delicious! Luckily it was not multiple layers cause I am the worst cake cutter known to man!

My co-workers are wonderful and spoiled Ms. Ella Kate rotten! She has lots of aunties at the Health Center and they might be as excited about her arrival as we are!

And here I am with my wonderful hostesses, Barbara my boss on the left and Aubrey one of my closest friends on the right. They did such a great job with the shower! Thank ya'll so much!

This morning was also my 28 week check up with the doctor and my glucose screening. Personally I don't know what all of the fuss was about the drink you have to drink for the screening cause really it didn't taste that bad. Then again it could of been that they made me fast and didn't let me have anything to drink before that could have made it taste better! I will have the blood work back from that probably on Tuesday so be praying for a clean screening!

The doctor said everything sounded fine with the baby and my only restrictions now are no heavy lifting and no strenuous activity. I think I can handle that! I go back in 2 weeks (though really its about 2 1/2) for another ultrasound and a check up. I have officially started the 2 week rotation of appointments which just means things are getting closer!!!

Baby Update... 27 Weeks

Well today I had a follow up ultrasound after the episode at 25 weeks. Here are just a few pictures.
This is me this morning taking my 27 week picture. I would like to say that currently I have only gained 11 lbs (which my doctor did get on me just a little... but hey when you eat like a 300 lb man and only gain 11 lbs even when stuck on the couch for 10 days there isn't much you can do... I like to say VERY ACTIVE Ella Kate burns off all my calories) and I am pretty impressed that I have gained most of it in the front. I really thought I was just going to blow up like a balloon so thank god for the good genes!

And here is my beautiful baby girl's profile. It took some major coaxing from the ultrasound tech to get her to move her hands away from her face, but we finally got lucky! Besides her 11 week ultrasound, this is the only profile picture we have. She is pretty camera shy! I have to say that we are pretty sure she has Keith's button nose (Lucky Girl)! She was even puckering her lips while we watched her.

These pictures arent very clear, but they are frontals of her face. You can see the eye sockets and her nose and you can kind of make out that her hands are resting under her chin. She just loves those hands all on her face!

The ultrasound tech said everything looked good. I had plenty of amniotic fluid and babies growth looks great. Her head is a little small for her gestational age (though if you go by my original due date that we calculated of Sept 11th it is actually right on) and her arms, legs, and spine are about a week ahead of her age (though that doesn't surprise anyone). No wonder they had a hard time figuring a due date! Sounds like if she keeps this up she will come out a lot like I did as a baby... long and lean and all fingers and toes!

I have one more follow up appointment next Friday when they will also do my glucose screening. If all is well at that check up then the Dr. will just let me move forward as normal so keep your fingers crossed. I also have my first baby shower next Thursday and I am sooo excited!

Ella Kate's Room! The Inspiration...

So as I mentioned, Keith has been hard at work prepping Ella Kate's room for her arrival and I just wanted to share a bit of the inspiration before I show finished product pictures (whenever it is done!).

Here is the furniture we went with. It is made by Creations baby furniture and is the style Nouvella and we purchased it in their Autumn Cherry. We got a great deal on it thanks to the baby boutique actually having all the pieces we wanted in stock!

Picking baby bedding was by far the hardest thing for me in the world! We ended up doing a custom bedding from Rocking Horse Designs. I used their Piper collection (pictured above) as my inspiration. I loved the fabrics of their original Piper, but it was just too much brown for me so I decided to lighten it up with more white! I love how it came out, but will have to wait to post pictures once it is on the bed.

For the walls we decided to do 3 of them a bright white, but have decided on an accent wall of Sherwin Williams Melange Green behind the crib. I figured the three walls of white would work becuase of the large furniture pieces we have and the large window in her room. I think the splash of lime on wall will work out just right!

Hanging above her crib will be a 12x36 painting of her name inspired by the fabrics from the bedding below. I had a friend from highschool do the painting and highly anticipating it's arrival. She is selling her stuff on etsy, so you can check her out here.

One last inspiration for her room came from my days in Delta Zeta. I collected so many stuffed turtles and turtle knickknacks during my four years in the sorority that I decided I should probably bring a few of them out of storage. Plus I figure the little green accents would add to the room and help to bring the green out of the bedding.

I am hoping to have the room complete within the next week or two and then I will share the completed design!

Baby Update

I went to the doctor this morning and have been released from my bedrest prison. I have to take it easy through the weekend but am allowed to get up more and even run a few errands. I will go back to work on Monday and though I must still be careful I am glad to be getting out of the house!

The doctor has scheduled on ultrasound for next Friday to check my fluid levels and the baby's growth and if all checks out with that I get to go back on my normal visit schedule and will be released for normal activity. Hopefully this means that the threat of preterm labor has passed, but I am still going to do my best to be very careful and to prevent Ella Kate from coming any earlier than needed.

Mom let me go and do a little walking through Hobby Lobby today since I had some pictures that needed to be framed. I even got to sit and eat lunch at Olive Garden instead of reclined with a TV tray (that made things so much better for digestion let me just tell you!). I have a few errands to run this weekend but I plan on still doing a lot of resting to prepare for next week. It is going to be pretty hard going from watching TV all day to sitting at a desk but I don't think I will ever be so glad to get up at 5:30 and go into an office!!!

Hopefully next week I will have some new pictures of the little miss to post... Until then

So what's been up??

I know I promised that I would start posting more frequently, but that didn't happen because the hard drive on our laptop crashed and things have just been crazy busy! Our computer will be ready within the next week so I hope to start being better. I really want to start posting more especially as the baby is arriving to document the rest of our stroll through preparation for baby, remodeling the new house, and our new life as parents. Plus I know the grandparents will love to have somewhere they can see the little one.

So let's start with baby...

We found out on April 23, 2010 the following about baby Underwood...

So yes, it is going to be all pink and pretty around this house! We had a feeling from day one that it would be a girl, but I know Keith was holding out that it could possibly be a boy. But no, girl all the way! We have decided to name her Ella Kate Underwood and are very ready for her arrival. Ok not really ready, but are anticipating!

Here are a few pictures from our 21 week ultrasound. Unfortunately she did not cooperate much so these were the best pictures that we could get.

Lots of leg! As ecpected with me and as her mother, the girl has some legs which has made it very difficult to predict an accurate due date. And let's just say those legs are strong! I have been feeling the little one since around week 17 which is a little early for first pregnancy but with legs like that the doctor is not surprised!

And here are her feet! Both Keith and I have very long and lean feet so it's not surprising the clearest picture shewould give us was of her big old toddler size foot! As my mom said I was all fingers and toes and it looks like little Ella Kate is taking right after her momma!

So those pictures were from 5 weeks ago, so what has been going on with the pregnancy since then? Well at 25 weeks, I was admitted to Labor and Delivery for an unexpected bleed and spent 2 days in the hospital on IV and monitors. The doctor's have concern for premature labor and have also been watching me for placental abruption. I have received a round of steriod shots in case of premature labor but it looks like Ella Kate has no thoughts of coming out early. She spent those two days in the hospital trying to move away from monitors and kicking and punching as normal. There has been no contractions and no dialation which is blessing! I was placed on bedrest upon leaving the hospital and have been laid up for the past 8 days. We have made it to 26 weeks and 1 day and are just taking it one day at a time and doing our best to make sure she stays in there and we don't have any further scares. I go back to the doctor on June 3rd and we will see what the next orders are from the doctor. I am hoping to go back to work at least half days starting next week, but I will be a good patient and do as he says! Mom has been here waiting on me hand and foot and I have been doing a bit of nesting through her which has been nice. I think I have gotten more things organized from the couch than since we moved in 3 months ago!

So what has been up with the house...

Well we have new floors, some new walls, new paint, and yet so much work to still do before Ella Kate's arrival that I don't even want to think about it. Keith and his dad have been hard at work and are doing their best to get as much done as possible each time his dad visits and I know it will all get done eventually! Our entry and hall are almost complete (just need 1 more coat of paint and decor) and the living room just needs the new door and a few finishing touches of molding and or course decor. Our bedroom is all done but we have plans to add some built ins to our closet to make the most of the space. Keith is currently putting all other projects on hold though to finish the little miss's room to make sure all is ready in case of early arrival.

Well that is where we stand as of today... I am sure there is so much more in our future and I will try to keep it updated!

Also prayers please for my friend Carrie... you can visit her blog here and read about her story. She is definitely an inspiration and a beautiful writer and I am blessed to know her!