Welcome Ivy Elizabeth

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Ivy Elizabeth. She was born on July 7, 2017 at 9:43am.  Our little girl weighed 7lb 10oz and was 19.5 inches long.  She has a head full of dark hair and has deep dark eyes already.  We are all in love with her.  I'll post more details later, but considering she is over a week old I thought we should probably at least post an announcement, and some photos.  Enjoy!

Ivy Elizabeth

Orion loves his little sister

Daddy is enamored 

Even her yawns are adorable.

Mom and baby in the hospital.

Orion's first time holding Ivy

Me with my kiddos.

I love her face so much.

I definitely love his too! 

My beautiful little family.

Your Amazing Sis

Orion took the time to write his future little sister a letter.  I think it's incredibly sweet and I wanted to share it with you all.  I'll type out what he wrote below, and then attach pictures so you can see it for yourself:


On the outside of the envelope, he wrote "Your amazing sis!" surrounded by hearts and a smily face:

When I open up the letter, this is what is written: 

Dear ____,   (he actually put the name, but we aren't sharing that yet!) 

       I am sooo Iksidide (excited) to be your big brother. I just want you to come out.  I've wanted a sibling and I'll have you! 

From Orion

5 Worst Parts of Pregnancy

A couple of days ago I talked about my favorite things about being pregnant.  Today, I figured I should share the things about pregnancy that I do not enjoy so much.  In general, most of my complaints have to do with being uncomfortable, but I thought it would be worth sharing nonetheless. Why not?  

The worst parts of being pregnant for me:  

• Pain in my tailbone & hips!  This time around, my tailbone and hips have hurt on and off from almost the beginning.  The sharp pains make sitting, standing, walking, and sleeping all a challenge and I just do not appreciate the consistent discomfort. 
• Swelling!  I've been pretty lucky in that most of the swelling is not major, but it's still very uncomfortable to have my feet swelling to where my shoes are uncomfortable, or my hands swelling enough that I have to take off my jewelry.  No bueno! 
• Heartburn!  Heartburn is the one thing in pregnancy that I just never get used to.  I've gone through more Tums than is probably healthy and find myself getting heartburn almost daily no matter what I eat or how hydrated I am.  It's super frustrating. 
• Becoming public property.  I've talked about this off and on throughout both of my pregnancies.  While I love the pregnancy stories from other women, I hate the comments from strangers, the stares and questions, and the fact that there suddenly seems to be no boundaries between my privacy and the people I don't even know.  It drives me crazy.  
• Being babied!  There are so many people who seem to feel that pregnant women are no longer adults who can take care of themselves.  I get very annoyed by people telling me that I can't do something, like lifting my own watermelon at the grocery store, simply because I'm pregnant.  I know my limitations, don't tell me I can't do something!! 

So those are my biggest complaints.  Knowing the experiences some women face, none of these complaints seem to be all that major at all! 

Week 39

Welcome to week 39! Baby will officially be here by the end of this week.  It's hard to believe that we've finally made it.  And if it isn't crazy enough, we also have 4th of July this week and family will start showing up, with Aunt Jaime making her appearance on Wednesday.  I have a feeling this week is going to go very quickly.

For baby

Baby is officially considered full term!! Baby probably is somewhere between 19 and 21 inches long and weighs between 7 and 8 pounds, but we will know by this weekend.  The skin has changed from pink to white because the baby fat has been layered over the blood vessels, making baby squishy and cute.  It will also help baby maintain body temperature on the outside.

For momma:

I am officially ready for this baby to be here.  While I still feel pretty good in general, I'm sick of waiting and starting to get pretty impatient.  Luckily we have less than a week left before baby will be here.  I'm so happy my blood pressure and everything else has been completely fine throughout this entire journey.  My tummy is big enough that I'm uncomfortable, and baby coming out will be bittersweet, but I'm ready to meet them and share with the world. 

5 Favorite Things about Pregnancy

In my life, I have heard a lot of women complain about being pregnancy and how miserable it makes them feel.  I honestly feel sorry for these women because while pregnancy can be difficult, I genuinely enjoy most of the experience.   So what are the best things about being pregnant?

1. Feeling baby move: I absolutely love feeling the kicks and wiggles that happen daily, and interacting with baby in those moments.  It is the part that I miss the most once baby is born.  It is highly distracting, and there are definitely times when it hurts or is super uncomfortable, but it's one of the most entertaining and reassuring parts of pregnancy. 
2. Excitement from my family:  I'm not someone who particularly enjoys a lot of attention or expects special treatment, etc.  However, being pregnant brings a level of excitement to my family that I love.  My sisters check in on how I'm feeling, Seth regularly does little things to take care of me, and even Orion has taken to giving my tummy hugs in the morning in addition to my hug.  I love seeing the excitement around me and I appreciate all their love and support. 
3. Growing hair & nails:  My hair has grown so much and feels super healthy.  I'm sure half of it is the fact that I can't dye my hair, but my hair feels pretty good and is longer than it has been in probably 8 years.   The same can be said for my nails.  They feel stronger and have grown longer than ever.  I have also been able to not chew them, which is a huge deal for me as someone who has chewed my nails since I was 5 years old. 
4. No menstrual cycle!  Probably way too much information, but not having to worry about having a period for 9 months is really, really nice.  I won't dwell on it, but I appreciate the break. 
5. Entertaining dreams:  My dreams have always been super vivid and it gets even more intense while I'm pregnant.  While I don't appreciate the horrible nightmares I've had so far, I do completely enjoy the fun dreams that come along with pregnancy.