Maternity Pics, Baby Shower & 34-wk Belly Pic!

Here's a "sneak peak" of our maternity pics that Jeff and I had taken down at Bradley Park on Sunday. Samantha from S&D Photography took these and did a great job! We had alot of fun taking the pics and Jeff kept making comments and cracking jokes to make me smile and laugh...one of the things that I love about him! :) After we were done Sam asked if we'd like to take more pics at our house on another day, so of course we accepted. Sam ended up coming over tonight (Tuesday) and we took some in the nursery and a few in the bedroom. :) I'm anxious to see all of the pictures after her and her fiance get them all edited and put on a cd for us. I look forward to getting a few printed and hung in the empty frames in Landon's room. I know Landon will grow to see how much we love him and most importantly how much Mommy and Daddy love each other. Our marriage is and always will be #1, which I know will make Landon a strong and loving father/husband someday.

My first Baby Shower was hosted by my wonderful Sister-in-Law's (Christy & Amber) and Mother-in-Law. Here are just a few pictures of this fun day...the first one is of my Sister-in-Law's and darling little niece, Lexie. The middle one is of my Mom and older sister Leslie and 2 adorable nieces, Alli and Ashley. Christy had this adorable cake made for me by one of her graphic designers at work. That's me sitting on the cake...I was so impressed with this and just absolutely loved it! Thanks again Grant girls for making this such a special day!!

Well my belly is definitely growing and I'm starting to get stopped in stores with people making comments....and all of them have been nice so far. :) I am really starting to get super excited and very anxious to have my little boy!
Lately I have had a few rough days...Saturday was by far the worse day I've experienced so far. I woke up around 8am with severe stomach cramps. It was like menstrual cramps x10. While I headed to my 1st Baby Shower, I tried to ignore the horrible pain and stay as upbeat as I could. When I got home I laid on the couch literally all day and all night just praying over and over that they would go away. Jeff and I didn't know what to do, if I should call the Dr. or not, but I knew they would just send me to the hospital since it was over the weekend. I decided that I'd call if the pain was consistent through Sunday. I ended up going to bed around 9pm although I wasn't able to sleep because the pain was so strong and consistent. Thankfully when I woke up Sunday morning I felt so much better and all of my cramping was gone. I have my next Dr's appt. and sono on Friday the 31st and I can't wait to hear what she says about the cramping and to see if my little guy has changed positions yet (fingers-crossed that he's no longer breech!).

Dr's Appt - 32 1/2 Weeks

I had my 2 week check up today and unfortunately found out that he's now in the breech position. 2 weeks ago he was head down but between then and now he has decided to flip. I have to admit I was pretty upset after hearing this as I really want to deliver naturally. Dr. says there is still time for him to flip back and she gave me a few things to try that might help out. We discussed the option of doing the procedure to try and flip him (this is done at 37 weeks) but there are some risks involved in that. I go back in 2 weeks and will get a sono at that time so we'll see if he's still in the breech position or not. I'm praying he cooperates with Mommy! Everything else is going good and I'm still measuring right on (at 32 weeks), and baby's heartbeat was 153 today.
I'm still feeling about the same...having the same aches and pains and my feet are starting to swell a little more and becoming a little more painful. I'm just getting more and more ready to have my little guy! :)

Middle Name....check!

Well Jeff and I finally figured out what Landon's middle name will be. We are using Jeff's Father's middle name which is "Jay". Jeff is the one that came up with this while I was the one researching every modern name out there. We both decided it would be perfect, to pass on a family name (Jeff's middle name is also his Father's first name) and we also think it has a cute ring to it. I think "Landon Jay Grant" flows very well, and we figured we could always call him "LJ" for short if we wanted to. We were anxious to tell his Dad the news, so we went over last weekend and shared this with him. He was pleasantly surprised and extremely happy and honored. He gave Jeff a big hug, so it was kind of a neat moment. It seems like we stress over the little things at times, so I'm glad to know we're getting a bunch of things checked off our list of 'things to do'.

Diaper Bag....check!

I'm sooo excited I finally got the diaper bag I've been eyeing for the past few months! I'm so glad Jeff let me "splurge" on my OiOi bag!!! :-) Also it's great that it's a neutral bag so it will also look great over Jeff's shoulder!

BabyMoon and 32 week belly pic!!!!

Jeff and I took our BabyMoon trip to Lake Geneva this past weekend and had a WONDERFUL time!! It's always good for the two of us to get away together and this trip was especially nice and special since it was our last trip before having our little Landon around. We both have of course decided that these trips will still be needed for the two of us after he is here but we also know that it will never be the same, as I'm sure we'd spend alot of the time missing and thinking about him. I really surprised myself this weekend as I thought for sure I'd spend half of the time crying and feeling sad that it was our last trip. Although it was bittersweet, I was full of excitement and happiness that my wonderful Hubby and I will be starting a "family" together and we are both sooo excited to meet him and can hardly wait another 2 months for his arrival! On this trip we did just what we wanted and needed to do....R-E-L-A-X!!!!! A few of the things we did was go to the beach (my absolutely fav!), walk around and shop, go out to eat and take a carriage ride. To me that was a perfect day! I have to add that I am constantly reminded of the most amazing husband that I have. He always puts me first, takes care of my every need and is so attentive to me...sometimes I wonder how he puts up with me! :)

Landon is definitely growing and my belly is getting bigger and bigger!

Lake Geneva, WI

Here are a few pics of our trip! We always get a picture taken in front of this fountain....the carriage ride was so nice and relaxing....and the last pic is just one of me and my growing belly outside of our lakefront hotel. We absolutely love Lake Geneva and look forward to going back soon!

My growing belly!

At 31 weeks and 2 days my belly is definitely growing and I'm starting to get pretty uncomfortable and not feeling as good, so it's hard to imagine that I have 2 months to go (I'm hoping to go a little early). I've been feeling nauseas quite a bit this past week and I'm starting to lose my appetite...nothing sounds good to me anymore. Also I am super uncomfortable at night so I'm losing more and more sleep all the time. It's mostly my hips...they hurt so severly that it is hard to stand at times. I also had a rough time at the hair salon last Friday. While getting my foils put in I passed out, broke out in a complete sweat and was fighting to not get sick. Needless to say I took it easy the rest of the day and then visited my parents that evening and just laid on their couch all night (Jeff was out of town). I had another prenatal massage last night and that helped with my low back pain, at least for now. Oh how I love my bi-weekly massages!!! Jeff and I had our second Childbirth class tonight and got to tour the labor & delivery area of the hospital and learned about false and true labor, contractions, and got quite a bit of massage from our hubby's...that was nice! :)

Childbirth Class and Dr's Appt.

Jeff and I attended our first Childbirth Education class on Tuesday evening, and we have 3 more to go. We actually have a big class with quite a few young couples, so it's great sharing the same experiences with others in the class. We learned the tools of lamaze, anatomy & physiology, different stages of labor, passive relaxation and watched a few videos. I especially enjoyed the last 20 minutes of class where we got to lay in a comfortable position (mine was of course laying into my Hubby!) and focused on breathing (I have this mastered from prenatal yoga) and just relaxing. I took this time to focus on me and my baby! :) I'm looking forward to the next class where we also get to take a tour of the hospital. Jeff and I are already glad we chose to take this class as we feel it will better prepare us for the delivery of our son.

I had my 2-week appt. on Thursday and again everything is going perfectly as planned! His heartbeat is starting to drop more (147) and he's in the correct position...now lets just hope he stays that way! I go for my final sono in one month, in which I'll be 34 weeks along. I am definitely feeling the aches and pains of the last trimester. My low back is aching so badly all the way across, I get stabbing pains in my stomach from time to time, I am so exhausted, super uncomfortable when sleeping at night and my hips ache so bad it's hard for me to sleep. Dr. thinks I won't start to really feel uncomfortable until week 36, so I'm thinking the next 5 weeks can go slow! :) No really I'm super excited to meet my little Landon and can't wait for it to get here!!