We're getting close!

Well right now it is 7:53 in the morning. I have not been out of bed and up this early since Jon had surgery. Jon got up for PT at 5:20 and I usually wake up with him but lay in bed just to say bye and I love you. Not this morning. His alarm went off and I was more awake than he. So once he left I tried to fall asleep for about 15 minutes and then gave up and came downstairs to do my prego yoga.

I cannot believe my due date is just one week away! Where has the time gone? Thinking about how fast these last 10 months have gone by makes me very hopeful that Jon's upcoming deployment will seem to go by just as fast.

We got our maternity pictures taken and Angela did an amazing job. You can see them in my photos on Facebook or just wait until I post them here. Jonathan wasn't very into the idea at first but in the end he really enjoyed taking them. I think this is going to be something to treasure for sure.

So the big question lately has been "How are you feeling?"

I am feeling alright mostly. I wake up about every hour now throughout the night but I suppose that is just God preparing me for when baby is actually here. Exercise is definitely more challenging as I am out of breath quite fast these days but we still try to get out and walk at least once a week. I have been the queen of naps and I don't foresee today being any different (especially with being up so early this morning). A week ago my nurse did a cervix exam and she said that I was 1 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. I have another appointment today but I'm not sure if they will check again or not.

Any day now though! Can you believe it??

Oh baby baby!

YIKES! Can you believe it?! We are already at week 37. I am amazed. People keep asking if I am ready for this thing to be out yet and right now no. I am not yet at the horribly uncomfortable stage yet. Getting there slowly but still enjoying being pregnant. The nursery is 100% complete with everything set up and not just the paint. My belly is gigantic in my opinion and still growing (which is good of course) AND most importantly baby is head down. Only a few more weeks to go and our little prince/princess will be here. I am so blessed to have the amazing support system I do here. Next weekend we are getting some maternity pictures done and I am super excited for those too. I'll be able to post some here once they are ready. For now, just pictures of this growing child.

Weeks 36 and 37 respectively

Our monkey decided to sit completely on my right side one night.

A look back at Easter

BUNNY CAKE

Here are all my supplies to make my bunny cake. Rich and creamy vanilla frosting, red food coloring, blue food coloring (start with little drops and add as needed to get the pink and blue), twizzlers, cake decorating gel, and a spatula. *Normally there would be coconut with green food coloring around as grass but Jon does not like coconut so i left it out.

Bake two same sized round cakes.

I put one round cake on top of the other and used a fork to create an outline for the bow. I then moved it to the other side and did the same thing and then used a knife to cut the bow. The left over parts are used for the ears

All my pieces

I poked holes like I did before to know where to cut the ears

I put the pieces where they belonged so I knew how they would lay on the plate

I frosted the entire cake with white first and then used the pink to fill in the ears

The final product

UPDATE!!!

Well I finally went through and cleared up the camera a bit. We have been busy painting baby's room and organizing things from showers and then now getting Jon ready to head to Ft. Polk for some training.

Tomorrow I will post more pictures from the past but tonight here are the progress pictures of our little Monkey's room:

So here are the blank white walls with all baby's stuff in the middle of the room.

This is what we decided to use for the main colors. The base coat is the same color as the rest of the house kind of a creamy tan. I think the official name was toasted cashew. We then went and got some dark brown to make a 5 inch boarder all the way across the walls.

The paint tape didn't do the BEST job with making a straight edge so I went back and put my perfectionism to a good use and straightened out the edges of the boarder.

Below are the colors we chose for the inside of the boarder

I created an outline on paper before actually painting and then put up stencils and wrote with pencil to trace over.

Then finally the finished product as far as paint goes.

Baby time!!

Yesterday we had our official ultrasound. There are no gender showing pictures because I didn't want to know so I get to be surprised here in about 4 months. (I think it will be exciting not knowing!) Anyway here are the pictures from the ultrasound that we got to bring home. Enjoy!

Baby's legs are crossed. You can see the tops of our baby's knees.



Here's our baby's hand flat. You can see the thumb really clearly.

On the right you can see both nostrils.





Front views of baby's face



















Baby's whole body

Camping

\



For memorial day weekend we went camping at milford lake. What a fun time. Jon and I stayed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. It was quite the learning experience for us being that it was the first time for us being the ones leading everything. (We've always gone with our families) We went with two other families that stayed overnight for two nights and one other family that stayed one night. During the day we had lots of visitors which made it a great time for the ladies.



The sunsets here in Kansas are beautiful and being out on the lake just emphasized how amazing of an artist God is.


Crystal and Nastassja in the shade.


During the days the guys would go out and fish while the wives stayed back at the site in the shade. Most of the guys got horrible sun burns. I think of them all Jon's was the worst. He has been blistering for a couple days now. We were lucky to pack up when we did because it started raining and thundering on Sunday. I went to church to great and Jon stayed back and packed up. For a first time camping experience together it was quite a success




Ryan, Audrey, and Rylie

Hottest day of my life!

Alright everyone. The time has come and I finally have some pictures. But first for a little story.

So this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and we decided to do a group camping trip. It turned out to be a beautiful weekend by the lake with some great friends. BUT right before we left we discovered that our Air conditioning is not working. There was nothing we could really do because as I said we were leaving to go camping. Anyway the guy has been here for a few hours running back and forth to get parts to fix this thing but to no avail. So we are sitting here miserable thank goodness it is only in the high 80's outside. I am really hoping this thing gets fixed tonight so that I can actually get some work done around the house tomorrow.


Now for a baby and life update.
I can finally feel baby moving (at least I think so). What a strange feeling to know there is a little baby in there moving around. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 2nd is our only 'official ultrasound' which means we get to see the little guy/girl. We are still on opposite sides of the fence on finding out or not but for now we are going to wait. There are CRAZY rules for me to follow tomorrow though. 1) empty bladder at 11:30 2) drink 1 liter of water between 11:30 and 12:30 3) nothing else to eat or drink after 12:30 and no using the bathroom. Not looking forward to that. But it must be done. They won't even see me if my bladder isn't full. It is amazing to think that I am already past the half-way point but good to know at the same time.




This picture was taken at about 16 weeks.
Not much of a bump yet




I have decided to take all my main belly shots in the same dress. 5 months and belly bearing :) Still a little hard to see though.



I fly home in a week and absolutely cannot wait!!! Jon is on night duty until the 10th which will be nice because we will have days together. His section is out in the field for the next couple of weeks and deployment talk has started again although nothing is ever for sure until there are orders in hand. We are just praying that Jon gets a little bit of time with our new baby before having to be gone for a year.

Other than that and this awful heat in our house things are going great for us out here in Kansas. We love and miss you all.