Baby Shower #3 aka I am one lucky girl!

This past Sunday i was lucky enough to have a shower thrown by my mom and sister.  My mom's side of the family, and my friends were all invited to help us celebrate Kalea's expected arrival in almost 4 weeks.  We didn't take too many pictures, but I did have my friend take some while I opened gifts.  

Here is an adorable diaper wreath from Elizabeth.

 And a wonderful rocking swing from Gma, Aunt Carol, Jacque, and Colleen.

 My mom has been busy making a crib quilt for the nursery and here is the top.  I will get it quilted later this week.  She is also in the process of making a twin quilt for the guest bed in her bedroom.  I love it!

 A Lillibridge family quilt made just for Kalea.  All of the women in my life on my mom's side, plus Mom mom Linda and Aunt Kristin contributed.

 Linda had Kalea's name embroidered on the bunny jacket of this teddy bear!  It is so cute!  I am so glad I will be able to tell Kalea that my second mom had this made just for her.

 I loved all of the wonderful gifts everyone gave us.  I had a great time today organizing it and putting it away in the nursery for now.  Thank you all so much!  That goes for everyone at all three of the showers.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Now for some of the decorations.  I took pictures when the shower was winding down.  It was darker so the flash had to be used.  We used the tutu my mom gave me at the last shower and put the Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals inside it as part of our table decorations.

 The dessert table.  My mom made the cupcake stands that are stacked in the middle of the table.  They turned out beautiful and will be useful for many years to come.  We had strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting, Lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting, and vanilla cake pops.  Delicious!

 We should have taken more photos with all of the guests, but again, we were slackers.  I am waiting for a picture with the Girl Scouts that is on someone else's camera.  I was at least able to take a pic with my friend Cheryl and her almost 1 year old son, Liam.  We have been friends since the middle of first grade when I moved into the house across the street from her family.  Her son is so adorable!

 Here is a shot of Kalea's room with a lot of the gifts stacked up and awaiting a more permanent location.  Thanks to everyone for helping us get ready for her arrival!

 I wanted to highlight the beautiful quilt put together by Gma Nancy.  We wanted a Winnie the Pooh themed quilt and I couldn't wait to see how it turned out.  Everyone did such a great job.  

 On the back, Gma included a quilt label that has everyone's names on it in the order their square is on the quilt.  I know she will cherish this quilt forever.

33 week sneak peek

When Pat's parents were in town, we were able to go in for a 3D/4D Ultrasound.  It was such a great experience to share that with my in-laws.  I am so happy they were able to experience a little part of the pregnancy and get a sneak peek at their granddaughter.  

We went when I was 32 weeks, 5 days.  The prime time is by the end of the 31st week, so we were getting to the stage of her getting more cramped.  On top of this, she decided to hang out by my pubic bone while snuggled against the placenta.  This made for a difficult time for our tech as she tried to get us a good shot.  It was a wonderful experience regardless of how clear the pictures turned out.  I am happy I was able to see our little one again plus I love that we didn't get the best clear picture so she will still be a  bit of a surprise as to how she looks.  

We were told that she has chubby cheeks, full lips, and a cute button nose.  Of course, that is how I picture all babies!  Gma looked at the photos and said she has the "Buchner" chin which she would get from my Grandpa on my mom's side.  She also seems to still have gigantic feet and maybe even Pat's thumb.  It is so fun to guess what traits she will inherit from both sides of the family.  

Now that I am closing in on my 35th week, (what!?) the reality of our baby girl arriving is coming up fast.  We have taken a few classes and are in the middle of the "lamaze" class.  We have a car seat, stroller, diapers, and clothes.  If she decides to come early, I like to think we are prepared enough with the basic supplies, that we wouldn't have to worry.  Now we just need to pack our hospital bags and let her cook a little longer!

Here she is a little over 2 weeks ago!  This is the best picture of the bunch.

Baby Shower #2

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I am taking this wonderful day of family, thanks (and time off) to finally update after a few weeks of nothing.

Everything is going well in baby-land.  I am 33 weeks...less than 7 to go!  We have taken a baby care basics class and just did a tour of our hospital.  It really made it real seeing a labor & delivery room!  We still have a few more classes to take and now have check-ups every two weeks!  

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to have a baby shower thrown for me by my mom and sister.  It worked out perfectly as my cousin Kyle and his new wife Jen were married the night before.  The shower was scheduled for the next day so that family that had to drive a long way would only have to make one trip.  Another bonus was having my mother-in-law in town for the shower.  I loved having her here to experience with my family as her first grandchild is getting ready to come into the world.  

Thanks to Katie and Aunt Teri for taking these photos!

The two-Terry's/Teri's in our family...

 My Great Aunt getting some love from her youngest Great-Grandson Talin.  She has 6 Great-Grandsons!  Little Kalea will be the first girl great-grandchild on my Dad's side of the family.  

 My mom and Great-Aunt Sheila 

 My mom and sis did a great job of decorating!

 Drinks and desserts...

 My sister, cousin Katie and Natalie.  We grew up together and are pretty close in age.  So happy that Natalie was able to make it from Massachusetts.

 The two Grandmothers to be.

 3 generations...about to be 4!  Hmmm...I wonder if this means kalea is going to be super tall!

 My Grandmother Sylvia's wonderful sisters Sheila and Suzie.  So glad they could both be there representing for my Grandma.

 The oldest Great-Grandson, Hayden, with the youngest.

 Thanks to all for the wonderful gifts!  My mom made this adorable tu-tu for Kalea that will be perfect for her!  I love it!

I am so thankful to have so many people to support me and share in this wonderful time in our lives.  I can't wait to meet her!

Weekend Project

Thanks to my wonderful parents and sister, we were finally able to begin working on the baby room!  This is great as we have just under 10 weeks until my due date...2 more months!!!  We finally got to the point where the room was cleared out and there was a free weekend for all of us and the need became great enough to get stuff done.  

Since I had to work Saturday and the painting would start while I was at work, Pat and I taped the room in preparation so that it would be easy for them to just get started.

Here is our blank canvous...

 And when I got home from work the room was painted!  All that was needed was a short trip to pick up some more paint and touch up some missed spots.  The lighting makes the color look a little different, you will have to wait to see the final product in natural light at the end.

 The following day, my wonderful artistic mom started painting the tree in the corner of the room.  You can go here to see the inspiration for this tree and the idea for what the rest of it will have.  This will be the next project I will need to complete for the room.

 Now with a little shading

 The finished product!

 Plus a little personal touch I wanted to add...my sister and I had the idea at the same time and it turned out great!

 Sunday evening, my family had to drive back home, so Pat and I got to assemble the crib and put it in place!  Finally, we have had this crib sitting in its box in the living room for almost 2 months now!

I love the crib and can't wait to see the bedding my mom is making for it.

 This morning I took some pictures in natural light to show the finished product and the best look at the color we chose.  Plus a nice little extra piece that my sister painted for us before she left.

I found this quote when I was looking for ideas on a Winnie the Pooh themed room.  I didn't want to go overboard and have stuff everywhere, I just wanted little touches like the tree and small things here and there.  This quote caught my eye and made me a little teary eyed when I first found it.  What is great about it is she had found the same quote when she was looking for ideas as well.

So now we just need to finish the leaves project, hang a little something my mom and sister made, and a few other little surprises my Grandma is making and the room will be complete!  At least complete craft project wise.  I hope you like it!

A NJ baby shower

Time is flying by... for instance we took this pic almost 2 weeks ago and I had full intentions of posting it the next day!  Here I am at 27 weeks, 3 days.  I think I have gotten bigger since then, but that will have to wait for another time.

The beginning of October we went to visit family and friends in New Jersey for a week.  We knew traveling at Thanksgiving and Christmas would be out of the question since I would be well into my third trimester.  This became our trip instead.  Somehow the week we were there flew by and we barely had a chance to see people...Pat didn't even really get to see any of his family besides his parents.  We really have to do better when we go back next time!

My wonderful Mother-in-law threw me a baby shower while we were back and it was wonderful.  She kept it simple with a nice lunch at a restaurant and just good quality time with family and friends.  Since we had to fly back, she asked for any gifts to be in the form of a gift card.  That has helped so much!  We are so thankful for those that have been there to support us.  

A few people got us some small gifts, which we were able to fit in our luggage and still not check a bag. Since I didn't open gifts at the shower, I thought I would post what we got on here so people can see the cute baby things.

This is an adorable newborn outfit from Pat's cousins Tricia and Katie...

Another cute outfit with a ruffle bottom

 A great set of onesies of various sizes

 I love this blanket knitted for our baby by my MIL's friend Ann!

And finally a shopping cart cover/playmat for the baby.

 We also received a book, "Goodnight Moon" which I love!  We don't really have any baby books yet so this is nice to start a collection.

Ok...we had to buy something for our little girl while we were back there.  We headed to the Phillies Majestic Shop and had to get the Philly Phanatic Pillow Pet!!!

 I love it!  It is so soft.  I have had to keep it in the bag and in the baby's room so I don't use it.  

 We really enjoyed our time in New Jersey and can't wait to go back, hopefully over Easter with our little 3 month old!  

Skeletor no more!

We finally had our real Ultrasound done today.  What a great experience to have someone talk us through what we were seeing on the screen.  Detailed looks at everything from her heart, kidneys, cute little feet, to great profile shots of her face.  Most of these are self-explanatory with the description of what you are seeing right on the pic itself.  

Our tech had a hard time at first getting a good profile shot since she kept holding her hand over her face.  I guess she is going to be a real private little girl, or at least sleep like her Daddy does!

Just to confirm once again...it is a girl =)

On to some body parts.  Here is her foot from the bottom...

The hand and arm is up next for 3 different looks...

And some of her profile again, with a view of her arm sometimes in the way.

To finish off the pics, a face shot at an angle.  This seems to me like one of those pics where sometimes you see it, and sometimes you wonder what in the world you are looking at.  It looks kind of like a mask like in "The Phantom of the Opera,"  but again only sometimes.  I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek at our little girl!