Dresses

Ok, time out. Before I continue on with the story from the weekend, I want to post something on the cutest little dresses that Bre sent.
Here they are in all their glory!

Weekend Surprise

I woke up this morning to John bringing in the slippers he bought me for my birthday, a spoon, a bowl, and every box of cereal that we have in our cabinet. "Let me know when you are ready for breakfast, and I'll bring up the milk," he said. We took today off for a long weekend, and even though he came to wake me up before I typically wake up for work, it was a sweet gesture.
Let me back up...
About a month ago, I walked into the guest bedroom/office when John was in there on his laptop. "What are you doing?" I asked, thinking he'd say that he was writing an email, doing work, or looking at Uncrate or Engadget. Instead, he looked at me with panic in his eyes, and replied, "You don't want to know." Um, wrong answer, my dear. About 30 seconds later, John told me that he was trying to plan a surprise weekend for me. Ok, that's a better answer.
Fast forward a month, and that's where we are now. The only things I know at this point are that we're going about two hours from here to stay at a Reis family friend's house on Elkhart Lake, and John scheduled a prenatal massage for me at Aspira Spa. The only reason I know about the massage is because I had to get a permission note from the doctor. It should be a fun weekend, and hopefully we'll be intentional about taking pictures while we're out there. It's been a while since I've documented the bump. ;)

Something is LIVING inside of me!

Ok, I have to admit... I'm still a little weirded out that there's a human being living inside of my body. At first it was just in theory. I mean, she's been there since I was 2 weeks pregnant, but I couldn't feel her. Now that she's getting bigger-- probably 12 inches long-- I can feel her moving around all of the time. It's a little distracting now that she's strong enough to make my entire upper body move when she really karate chops (or whatever the heck she's doing in there).
One of my acquaintances from college (and my friend Ashleigh's friend), had her baby a few weeks ago. She was due in March just 2 weeks before I am due. I've been following her blog of her baby in the NICU, and admittedly, one of the first things that went through my mind when I saw her little girl is 'I have a baby the size of that baby living inside of me.' It's not quite the same to do what the pregnancy book says to do: go to the grocery store, pick out a 2 pound steak, and imagine that that is your baby. The mom, Holly, is an inspiration to me on trusting God's timing and plans. John and I are very blessed that our little Olive is growing as she is supposed to and that she has the opportunity to be protected inside of me (though it's weird) until God is ready for her to come out.

My belly

Since I've been asked to share a recent photo of me, John took a photo of me today. Here's my belly and pale skin.


And while I'm at it, I may as well show what our new house is going to look like when it's done being built. The one below is a light gray version of the house that we're doing. Ours will be blue.

Thank you Zarr Family!

I still owe everyone updated photos of my big gut, but in the mean time I wanted to share what John and I spent most of the Visa gift cards on that the Zarr family gave me...


Yes, that is our new infant car seat! We got at Babies R Us when they were having their Cyber Monday sale. It's one of the more expensive items that we'll be buying along with a crib, pack n play, breast pump, and stroller.

You should have seen us trying to figure out how to take it off of the base. We looked like monkeys trying to use a computer. It didn't come with instructions and there are lots of buttons on that thing.

Thank you, again! Love to you all.