Tenley's Nursery

I can now cross a major item off my To-Do List:

Finish Tenley's Nursery

When we found out a little chickie hi-jacked my belly the quest for her adorable bedding began. I didn't have to search long as I had a few that I already had my eye on. I wanted her nursery to feel calm, modern and earthy so when I found the Dwell Studio sparrow baby bedding, I could not be talked out of buying it for her. I was inspired by the sparrows on her bedding and found some great pieces to go with our "bird" theme: Etsy Tree Decal, Dwell Studio Sparrow Pillow and Pottery Barn Bird Lamp and Rug. We also got creative and bought 5 wooden bird houses from Michael's, painted them white and hung them above her curtain boxes. Then to complete the furniture in her room we were on a mission to find a nifty chair. We didn't want anything too big or too bulky and we found this mod rocking chair from IKEA that would match her furniture perfectly.  My amazing in-laws went to PA to buy it, then shipped it to us so we didn’t have to drive to CA for it. Yes, they totally spoil us (and Tenley, too). I don’t know what we’d do without them ...thanks again!  The only thing we still need are these bird book ends so we can put her books on her dresser and her name to hang above her crib. I was worried about how everything would look together, but I must say I am extremely happy with how it turned out. Here is a peak into Tenley's nursey:

Now if only I had a baby to put in that crib or rock in that chair...

4ish weeks left!!

Maternity Shoot

My friend Chelsea, who just had a beautiful baby girl, takes thee best photos so I was thrilled when she agreed to take our maternity photos even though her baby girl was only 3 weeks old. We decided to take the photos at 32 weeks and I could not stop thinking about them. Then, when I was 31 weeks pregnant I had a dream about our maternity shoot and shared my dream with Chelsea ...I was in a field in a earthly dress, then in a bathing suit with Ed painting "We <3 Tenley" on my belly. So she tweaked it and came up with a beautiful/super fun photo shoot. Here are some of our favs:

 

I'm so happy we took these photos and can't wait to be able to share them with Tenley some day. Thanks to Chelsea for making it so much fun and giving me amazing confidence throughout the whole shoot. You are awesome! :)

To see more of Chelsea's photos go to: www.chelsearobbinsphotography.blogspot.com.

Catching Up...

If you read this post you may recall my disappointment/uneasiness with my doctor. Well …crisis adverted! Praise Jesus. I saw a specialist in the beginning of my pregnancy and both Eddie and I absolutely loved him and felt totally comfortable with him. Since he only did high risk pregnancies he could no longer see me and I was sent back to my doctor (whomp, whomp, whomp). When I reached my breaking point (at 30 weeks) with my doctor I desperately reached out to a friend of mine who just so happens to work with my specialist and asked if she could sweet talk him into “stealing” me as a patient. Sure enough she was able to work her magic and he decided to take us on. I couldn’t have been more thankful to her and seriously think she is my guardian angel (thanks again, Cass!!). He saw me the next week and let me just tell you... HE. AMAZES. ME. Yes, we will have to pay more money out of pocket because he is a specialist, but having a doctor that is supportive is just out of this world and totally priceless. When I went to his office all the nurses were so kind and saying how excited they were that I switched to them and how well they were going to take care of me. I haven’t seen him since I was 18 weeks along and when he saw me he gave me a big hug and apologized for how my previous doctor had made me feel. When I told him I wanted to have a natural birth he supported it and when I told him I wanted to use the HypnoBirthing method he supported that as well. He just reassured me that this was going to be my birth and that my requests were going to be acknowledged and certainly not laughed at. Now that my mind is free of all my negative thoughts, I now feel 100% confident in my birthing plan. We've been taking HypnoBirthing classes and only have one more class left; which I'm kind of bummed about. It has been a tremendous help in having me let go of my fears and giving me the strength and support I need to know that I can do this.  The HypnoBirthing book has become my best friend and I take it every where:

(Best book to read if you are expecting! So much information...)

I have been reading it like a maniac and highlighting all the positive things about a woman’s body and also highlighting inspirational birthing quotes. Then I write all my highlighted notes down in a notebook so I can read them when I begin to doubt myself or if I need a reminder of how powerful my body is. I’ve also been listening to birthing affirmations that are on my HynoBirthing CD in the car. People probably think I’m crazy because it looks like I am talking to myself, but hey, it’s helping me! I’m hoping that all of these things will keep me positive for the rest of my journey. My class and the book give me sooo many helpful tips to help prepare my body for birth. I never thought of it as something you need to prepare for, but it's just like running a full marathon - you must prepare mentally and physically. So I've been doing some major conditioning for my mind and body: nightly relaxation sessions, messages (in all sorts of places), eating recommended foods, drinking a quart of raspberry leaf tea, taking the 6 week prep and evening prim rose oil, the list goes on... I must say I've been super relaxed, but I totally feel like I've been using Ed recently, but he's got the goods that I can't buy at Whole Foods. Just saying ...sorry, Ed!

Ok, so what else has been going on in the past few weeks?..

Eddie turned 27 so we had some friends over and I made him his favorite cake - carrot cake:

Can you believe that I have been celebrating his birthday with him since he was 18 years old?! Its crazy to me that we got to go through high school together, move across the country together and still remain closer than ever. I truly got to marry my best friend; which makes me so blessed and extremely grateful.

We've been wanting to buy a duvet cover for what seems like forever so we can wash it all the time since Pearl seems to rule our bed. With a baby on the way, I've become a freak about Pearl's hair being on stuff that the baby will be on. So we finally bought bedding and it is like 100 times more light, cool and way more comfy. Both Eddie and I love it and guess who else enjoys it...

We also went to Pottery Barn to pick up curtains and a lamp for Tenley's nursery (pics to come soon!) and came across this bad ass kitchen that Santa must bring her:

 (I'm sure she'll be a good girl and deserve this, Santa.)

Anyways, each week seems to go by quicker and with each week that passes I get more and more anxious to meet my sweet Tenley. I dream about her easy birth (that is only 5 minutes long ...keeping my fingers crossed for that!), her soft cheeks and her sweet, sweet smile. Can this little chick just get here already so I could squeeze her in my arms and smother her with kisses? I'd like that very much.

I also want to thank the people who read my previous post of fears and sent me messages of support and shared their birth stories with me - it was so nice and appreciated. Nothing like support from people who have been in the same situation.

5ish more weeks! :)

Guess The Poop

Our Vegas Family also threw me a baby shower in honor of lil’ miss Tenley; which was extremely nice and very much appreciated. I was so excited and got all dolled up:

(31 weeks)

Then, I headed over to Terri's for the shower. 

When I pulled up to her house I saw this and got very excited:

When I walked in I got the biggest surprise ...Randy was there!!

Randy is Kasie’s brother who recently moved too Atlanta (BOOOO!! Come back already…) and I haven’t seen him since and had no idea that he was in town. I received a text message from him a few days before the shower saying how he wished he could be there for the shower so when I saw him I was just totally clueless, speechless, shaky and sweaty (yes, this has been happening a bit more now that I’m almost ready to pop) in excitement to see him.

To top off that amazing surprise, they had pink lemonade and sweet tea:

My absolute favorite - red velvet cupcakes:

And Kasie's famous fruit salad, of course:

After we ate all the yummy food, Kasie had a game for us to play …yes, Kasie and her sick sense of humor (that I love so much) played the “Guess the Poop” game. I’ve only heard about this game and never actually played so it was very interesting. It was totally awesome seeing people eating the baby "poop":

Even after tasting the “poop” I was still always wrong.

After the games, I opened presents; which was so much fun. At our shower in Ohio we couldn’t get gifts (only gift cards) because we would’ve had to take them all on the plane or ship them so I was looking forward to opening some gifts for Tenley. Tenley got lots of things that she needed and it’s safe to say we are now ready for her arrival.

Thanks to the hosts for throwing such an amazing shower!!

(The Hosts: Terri, Kasie and Linda)

They truly make Eddie and I feel like we have family in Vegas and it’s so nice and reassuring to have people so excited for us! And thanks to my friends who came and made it such a blast. I don’t know what I’d do without my friends here in Vegas; I truly think of them as family and am so grateful that Tenley will get to have such great people around her as she grows up!

Thanks again to everyone ...I love you all! <3