Shower, Family and Surprises

There we were, in Portland for our family baby (shower) celebration with the Tullius clan. From my cousins and aunts and uncles, to my mom and Frank the majority of our family would be there. Then the door bell rang... what?? Mary and Kathy??? Yes, they flew in for the day to be there with us!! I couldn't believe it! We had such a great time, Rachel and Sue threw a fabulous party!! We had a few friends join in the fun and representing the Laidlaws, Alec and Angela and their girls also helped celebrate. We were showered with love, presents and lots of laughs!! Thank you all for everything!! **pictured: Kathy, Blake, Shayna, Rachel, Jimmy, Lance, Max, Jennifer, Frank, Mary, Jack, Denice, Sue, Larry, Nancy, Gregg**

Classes = Prepared!

We have officially completed every child birth preparation class offered through our hospital. You name it, we took it. Newborn care, bringing home baby, CPR, breastfeeding, tour of the hospital and child birth prep. After all these classes one would think we are ready for baby... but in reality, nothing will prepare us!! We thought as long as we could take one thing from each class we would be one step ahead. We are still hopeful this information will come in handy once she arrives! We'll keep you posted on how that pans out!

Our Little Face!

Today we got to see our baby's face for the first time... via 3-D ultra sound! We were in for what we thought was a normal US appointment when the tech offered to have 3-D! I was a bit hesitant but Blake was all in... so there it was, our baby's face just like that. Although it took some getting used to, it was pretty miraculous to see her cheeks and lips! In these last few weeks her main goal is to put on weight and keep cozy in the womb, which she is doing very well! Average baby size at this stage is 3 lbs 14 oz, our little one weighs 4 lbs and 4 oz. The doctor was really thankful that she was in fact a few ounces higher than normal because typically moms with intestinal issues the babies have difficulty with weight gain. What a relief! Blake and I have been right on track with getting ready for her arrival, although we are getting less and less patient about it. I think Blake's favorite thing to say to her when he talks to my belly each night is, "HURRY UP IN THERE!! We want to play with you!!" He speaks for both of us, we just can't take it!

T-minus

We are officially in T-minus mode!! When the question was posed to me, "what is the arrival window for the baby?" I thought, well, let's see, with my due date 9 weeks away, potentially I can deliver anywhere from 7 weeks to 11 weeks!!!!! Crap!! That's SOON! So to prepare ourselves we have started all sorts of birthing classes... interesting to say the least but definitely informative and helpful! We have also decided, well really I decided and I'm making Blake go along with it, to repaint the nursery. We are now going for a mocha type color on the walls with pink bedding and accents. I just keep telling Blake to trust me, it'll look great! Cross your fingers. We have been going to doctors appointments every two weeks, it's about as fun as you can imagine, however this week we get another ultrasound!! It's been almost 3 months since our last one, so we're pretty excited to see how big she's getting. We'll definitely share that with you when we get it! Until then, here's an updated shot of my belly... 31 weeks today.

Breaking in the Parents-To-Be

Blake and I took a trip down to Portland to help Alec and Angela out over the weekend and babysit our nieces and their puppy! We thought, what a great opportunity to test our parenting skills! Well, it was anything but, those girls were so good and we had so much fun playing with them that it didn't seem like parenting or work at all. We were sad to leave but really cherished our time with Katelyn, Caroline and Annabell the puppy.

Family is Amazing!

Blake and I really feel lucky to have each other, our soon to be baby girl and Hudson in our little family unit. But once you add parents, siblings and nieces (and oh so many more of you) to the recipe, we really feel SO fortunate. Thank you!

Here is a picture of one of those times that family has taken our breath away... Rachael (my sister) who is studying in Paris went to Normandy to visit the sites and learn a little about D Day. As many of you can imagine, Blake "history is awesome" Laidlaw was extremely excited that Rach had this opportunity and REALLY wanted to be there. He sent her an email explaining what an exciting time that was in our history and shared more details than any book could teach you. While she was there, she took the time to make a tribute to her "history nerd brother-in-law". Blake was beside himself (I think there may have been a tear) by her gesture, Rach you took his breath away.

Thank you to all of our family for loving us, supporting us and taking our breath away on a daily basis. We are grateful for all that you do for us! We love you all!

Nursery time!

We are officially on the down hill slope... 3 months to go and plugging away at our nesting list. From a new closet organizer to painting, we are chipping away... here is a picture of Blake putting the final touches on the paint... please note his AWESOME overalls! Although I am hoping for another color on one of the walls, we are almost there! Once we have the bedding and some of the other decorations in the room, I'll be sure to send out a final picture of the room. On to more nesting...