29 Weeks and Hampton's New Best Friend...

29 Weeks and 1 day

• Size of baby: Hampton is around 3lbs now!  (We will see how big he's looking on Wednesday!)
• What is baby Skinner up to?  Hampton now has eyebrows and eyelashes!  He may also respond to sounds this week and he will continue to pack on some fat until is big arrival!
• Maternity clothes? A must!!!

• Sleep: Better this week!  Still have the horrible back pain at night and I have difficulty getting comfortable at times.  For the most part I am sleeping pretty good this week!

• Movement:  Hampton has been moving a lot! This week, he has kept us entertained as we sit and watch my stomach move!  You can definitely see his movements from looking at my belly and even though it is so weird, it is also so sweet.  We also play the "Guess that Body Part" game when we feel and see his movements.  We are soaking these moments up while we can!

• Best moment this week:  Meeting sweet Mac Steltenpohl!  That is right, our sweet friends, Josh and Jess, welcomed their precious little boy into the world on Wednesday, January 25th!  More on Mac...see below!
• Food cravings: I am still stuck on my same favorites for the past couple of weeks but I have developed this craving for something cold.  Weather that be that yummy ice, the little tiny balls of ice, or a milkshake or smoothie.  Even a big glass of water with a lot of ice sounds good!  I just want something cold all the time!
• Gender: Baby Skinner is a BOY!  
  
• What I miss:  Nothing this week.

• Pregnancy Symptoms:  Still having the regular back pain and I have started to retain some water...boo!  I drink tons of water but I knew that retaining water was inevitable and I guess we are getting closer to the end so it's just part of it.

• What I am looking forward to:  Seeing Hampton at our doctor's appointment this week!  Luckily we will have another ultrasound on Wednesday and we cannot wait to see our little man!
  
  

Now on to the happiest part of our week...Mac is here!!!  Meeting Mac was by far the best part of our week and we were all so anxious and excited to meet this sweet little guy.  As most of you know, Jess and I have shared this pregnancy journey and to say it has been special is an understatement.  Josh and Jess are such special friends of ours and we have loved sharing this time with them.  So as you can imagine, we could not wait to welcome Mac into the world and being there to witness this precious little life in his first few moments is indescribable.  Before it was time, we had a few minutes to love on the Steltenpohls in their last few minutes as a family of three!

 Anna Lee was one anxious big sister to be!!!

 Then we waited not so patiently for the first glimpse of Mac...

Then it was time!!!  And the proud daddy came out to show off his new baby boy!

 Weighing in at 8 lbs. 12 oz and 21.5 inches long, Mac was just precious!!!  Of course being the emotional pregnant lady that I am, the tears were flowing nonstop as I saw that sweet baby boy!  What a precious little blessing from above...

 And watching Anna Lee see her baby brother for the first time just melted my heart!  She was so happy to see Mac!!!

 As we watched through the nursery window, Anna Lee was adorable!  She would say, "I want to take him home."  And then at one point, she looked at everyone with the biggest smile on her face and said, "That's my brother!"  Talk about adorable!!!

Later that night, Kole and I headed to the hospital to see the new family of four!!!

 Anna Lee was very protective of her new brother and she just wanted to love on him and stay right by his side.  She is the sweetest big sister!

 Mac is the sweetest little baby.  He hardly made a peep and when he did it was the cutest little sound.

 Sharing this experience with Josh and Jessica definitely made our upcoming arrival a little more real to us.  Holding little Mac and looking at that sweet face makes us even more excited to hold our little boy!  It is hard to believe we will be doing this in less than 10 weeks!  

 I think it is safe to say that Kole is ready!

 Lucky for Josh, Kole was there to assist in changing the first dirty diaper and boy was it a doosy!  But they got it done!  It provided some serious entertainment and I'm pretty sure Anna Lee reconsidered her desire to help change Mac's diapers.

It was such a precious day that I know I will never forget.  We have been waiting so long to meet him and we are so thankful that Mac and his mommy are doing great!  We love little Mac already and we are excited to watch him grow.  I know that Mac and Hampton will be the best of friends and I look forward to all of the sweet moments and fun times to come.  

Welcome to the world Mac!!!

28 Week Update...

Hello 3rd Trimester!!!!  Wow that is so weird to me but here it is!  The final lap of our little journey.  I remember thinking the 3rd trimester seemed to be an eternity away but it is here and I am excited because I know that the end will be the arrival of Hampton!  The closer we get, the more anxious I get for multiple reasons. 1-I am pure giddy at the thought of holding our baby 2-I have a lot to get done before he is here 3-the whole delivery/labor thing makes me a little nervous but I'm preparing myself for that.  I am sure these are all very normal feelings for any expectant mommy.  So how am I preparing myself?  Well besides making multiple "To Do Before Baby Checklists," I am also preparing myself with A LOT of prayer.  Our prayer list is quite long but our biggest prayers right now involve prayer for a healthy baby, a safe and healthy delivery for both of us, and most of all, that in the mean time God will prepare Kole and I to be the Christian parents He has called us to be.  It's a big job, but I know that God has spent our entire lives preparing us for this task and we are ready to take it on.  We are ready to spend the rest of our days raising Hampton to know God, live for Him and glorify Him in all that He does.  Though this job may seem a bit intimidating, we know that God will be guiding us every step of the way.

• Size of baby: Calculations say that our baby should be over 2.5 lbs now and we know that is true because he was 2.6 lbs a couple of weeks ago.  So I am guessing he is pretty close to 3 lbs. or more now.

  
  
• What is baby Skinner up to?  Hampton can now open his eyes and turn his head.  He also responds to different senses such as light and sound.  And he is packing on that cute baby fat!

  
  
• Maternity clothes? A must!!!
• Sleep: Has been pretty good.  I still have my "wide awake" spells and my back pain but I am still getting the rest I need.

• Movement:  Hampton's movements consist more of pushing, kicking, or jabbing his mama's tummy.  I am seeing him move on the outside of my belly a lot more and can often feel a big hump on my tummy when he is pushing with his head or bottom.  

• Best moment this week:  Starting the 3rd trimester!!!  One step closer to the end and that is exciting!  OH and of course celebrating my 28th birthday with great friends and family!  It is my last birthday before I become a mommy so it was a pretty special occasion.  Next year, I am sure I will have a little helper to open my presents!

  
  
• Food cravings: Still stuck on the orange juice, cheerios, strawberries, pineapples and apples with peanut butter.  I also have to have my sweet tea occasionally.  I try my best to limit it as much as possible but I must have it.

  
  
• Gender: Baby Skinner is a BOY!  
  
  
• What I miss:  This list could be long right now but I will spare you from my self-pitied ramblings but lets just say this belly is not flattering and neither is this puffy face.

• Pregnancy Symptoms:  Still having the regular back pain but that's really it!

• What I am looking forward to:  Meeting Baby Mac!!!!  This week our most precious friends, Josh and Jessica, will be welcoming their baby boy/Hampton's future best friend into the world.  I am so excited and anxious to meet him!  It is going to be a very special week!

27 Week Update...

27 weeks and 2 days

 Can you believe we are less that 13 weeks away from meeting our little boy!?!?  That is insane to me.  13 weeks does not seem like very long to me and I know we have a lot to do in the mean time so I expect it will fly by...which is fine with me.  I have been feeling great this week!  I've had more energy which means we've gotten a lot accomplished over the weekend and all those not so fun pregnancy symptoms haven't been so bad this week.  Enough about me though, here is a little update on Hampton.

• Size of baby: Baby Hampton is about 2 lbs. 6 oz as we learned at our doctor's appointment this week.

  
  
• What is baby Skinner up to?  He is still practicing his breathing and is getting ready to pack on some of that baby fat!

  
  
• Maternity clothes? Are in full force!!!
• Sleep: Has been great this week...at least when I'm staying asleep!  We flipped out mattress this week which seemed to help my aching back (somewhat!)  I've had a busy week at work so I'm thinking that also contributed to my good sleep this week.  On the other hand, I have started to wake up every night around 1:30 or 2 a.m. and I am wide awake.  Sometimes for an hour or two...not sure where that is coming from.

• Movement:  We're moving and shaking!  During those sleepless times of night, I have found that Hampton is having a good ole time in my belly!  But it doesn't wake me up or keep me awake so I don't mind it.    

• Best moment this week:  Seeing our sweet baby at our ultrasound!  He has grown so much and he's definitely looking like his daddy.  It made us even more excited for him to be here. ***Another awesome moment this week was finding out that some VERY special friends of ours are expecting their own little one this summer!  I am so excited Hampton will have a little friend to play with!!

  
  
• Food cravings: Still stuck on the orange juice, cheerios, strawberries, pineapples and apples with peanut butter.

  
  
• Gender: Baby Skinner is a BOY!  Hampton Mac Skinner
  
  
• What I miss:  Not a thing!

• Pregnancy Symptoms:  Still having the regular back pain but that's really it!

• What I am looking forward to:  Starting the third trimester!  It is crazy to me that we are now in the home stretch of this experience.  We are one step closer to holding our little Hampton and we are growing more eager with each day!

Sweet baby Hampton...

We had our 27 week appointment today.  First, I had to skip breakfast in order to drink a super sweet drink for my glucose test.  If you know me, you know that I am a breakfast girl so I wasn't looking forward to having no food or drink.  I have been dreading this test, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected it to be and that super sweet drink actually didn't taste bad to me.  I was so thirsty, I would have liked anything at that point.  Another not so fun part of this test is waiting one hour after drinking the super sweet drink to have blood drawn to check your levels.  But lucky for us the wait wasn't bad because we also had an ultrasound scheduled.  We haven't seen our little man since I was about 17 weeks.  So needless to say, we have been so anxious to see him again!  It was so worth the wait...

  He is so precious!  These 4D pictures just amaze me!  I can't begin to describe the feeling of seeing that sweet baby's face.  Equally amazing was seeing how much he's grown and when I say he's grown, I mean we have a chunky little fella on our hands.  He is measuring one week ahead of schedule. I am actually 26 weeks and 5 days today and he is measuring 27 weeks and 5 days.  He currently weighs 2 lbs. and 6 oz.!  Yes he is going to be a big baby!

  I believe there is no doubt that he looks like his daddy!  He definitely has Kole's chin!  I may be a little biased but I think Kole is pretty cute so I love that he looks like his handsome daddy.

Our little Hamp man was moving quite a bit and kept rubbing his face with his hands so we were lucky to be able to get such good shots of his sweet face.  The rest of our appointment was great!  Mommy is healthy and baby is healthy so we are moving right along!  We will now be going to the doctor in three weeks!  

We could not be more thankful to hear that our little boy is doing well and is healthy.  My heart feels so full and so blessed.  After our appointment today, I literally had to pinch myself at the thought that our prayers have been answered and our most precious dreams are coming true.  We continue to pray that Hampton will continue to grow and get stronger everyday.  We love him so much already and we look forward to kissing those chubby cheeks!  What a sweet day full of sweet sweet blessings!

Nursery Sneak Peek...

Well we still have a lot left to do, but I thought I'd share some of the progress we've made so far.  Little by little it is coming together!  


Talk about a sweet daddy and husband!  With the help of his friend, Kole spent his Thanksgiving break painting and putting up bead board!  It made a huge difference in the room.   (The pictures make the color look a lot brighter than it actually is, but the color is a grayish blue.)

 And here are a couple of after pictures.  They give you a better idea of the actual color.

It looks so good!  The bead board and the color make it feel so warm and cozy.  Kole did such a great job!  Hampton is one lucky fella!
Next on the list was moving in the crib.  I wanted a simple, classic crib so going with the Jenny Lind crib was a no brainer.  It is so cute, has somewhat of a vintage look, it's classic, and best part is it is inexpensive!

 We decided to do a some distressing on the crib which was easy and added the perfect touch.

In the meantime, my best friend Jana had been working on the changing table for us.  She is insanely creative and talented!  To say she has been a huge help through this process would be an understatement.  She came across a handmade, solid wood dresser on the side of the road for a crazy low price and she decided to take on the project of redoing it to make it just right for the nursery.  All I can say is...holy cow it it amazing!!!  It is my favorite thing about the room.  She sent me these pictures to show me the progress.

 This is a picture without the doors to show the dark wood on the inside.  She took the stain off, grey washed and added the feet.  And I'm sure she did a lot of other stuff that I don't have a clue how to do.  

So while we had some time off, we drove to Auburn to meet Jana for lunch and pick up the dresser!

I could hardly believe my eyes when I finally saw it....words cannot describe how pretty it is!  It is absolutely perfect and it just makes the room.  Jana is my best friend and this just shows you one of the many reasons why.  She was so sweet to do all of this work for us and it ended up being such a beautiful piece that will be something we will use for years to come.

To finish off the dresser I ordered these knobs from Anthropologie.
http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=770998&catId=HOME-HARDWARE&pushId=HOME-HARDWARE&popId=HOME&navCount=7&color=grn&isProduct=true&fromCategoryPage=true&isSubcategory=true&subCategoryId=HOME-HARDWARE-KNOBS
They look fabulous!  I will share pictures of the finished dresser with the knobs later.
We went with a simple washed linen bedding from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child.  I just adore it!  It is simple, soft and classic!  And this is our big, comfy chair that we just love!  It is oatmeal linen fabric with a matching ottoman.  I have a feeling we will have many late nights in this chair.

I am also working on a little craft project.  I found some twig balls at Hobby Lobby that gave me an idea for a mobile.  Then I thought adding in some fabric birds would be so neat!  So I shopped my ever trustworthy Etsy and found some precious fabric birds.  For inspiration I looked to Pinterest and found a picture of the exact idea I had been thinking of!  Before I found this, I was feeling a little hesitant about how it may turn out but after seeing this picture I knew I had to make this.

I don't know if my finished project will ever look this cute but I'm going to give it my best shot! ; )


There are lots of other little touches we are still working on (curtains, wall decor etc.) but this gives you a little update on our progress!  When we are finished I will be sure to post pictures!  I can't wait to share the finished product!  Little Hamp's room is turning out so cute...now I just can't wait to have him in it!