Late Nights and Wonderful Friends

Last night my friends and I got together at MY house for girls night out! It was really fun to host it, and I was so happy to see that so many people made the drive to be there. We talked, laughed, ate, and stayed up WAY too late to be functioning mommies today. But, if that is the point of GNO, I don't know what is!

I was pleasantly surprised that some brought baby gifts for me and the other pregnant Brittany in the group. We were due around the same time, but her due date got moved to a week earlier. We are both having little girls although this will be her first (baby and girl). I have such wonderful friends!

Cadence's wonderful gifts

As tired as I am today, I honestly can't wait for the next time we all get together.

34 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights: I am officially in getting ready for baby mode! I have been getting everything I can think of for the nursery, making lists, and trying to figure out what I need to make some cloth diapers.

How Far Along: 34 weeks

Baby's senses are continuing to improve - when light peeks through your belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And baby can now recognize and react to simple songs...time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth is starting to slow and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.

Size of baby: Roughly ". 4.2 lbs on Tuesday's ultrasound

Weight: 202.4 - Ugh......

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gain: 14.2 lbs

Stretch Marks! - Eeekk! I already have a couple showing up on the top of my belly :( Oh, well, part of pregnancy for me I guess.

Maternity Clothes: A couple of my shirts are not fitting too well even as maternity shirts :(

Gender: GIRL!!

Name: Cadence McKenzie Ricks

Movement: Getting quieter, not as much space in there!

Sleep: Really good lately!

Exercise: I have been able to get out to walk the dogs every other day this week, and it has been wonderful.

Hypnobabies: Week 5 - This is the last week of the actual "class" and then I just start practicing the techniques every day until birth time. I have had some really great experiences with the hypnosis and anesthesia, and I can't wait for birth!

Symptoms: Back pain when I drive in the car for a long time. A few contractions here and there.

Throw up tally: 3

What I miss: Being able to REALLY run when playing agility with Hobbs......I miss being able to handle him properly!

Cravings: Ever since girls night I have been craving no bake cookies!

Aversions: Nothing major.

Things to do: Move Crib into Nursery, Paint/decorate name letters, buy crib bedding, make a decision on painting the nursery, wash baby clothes, stock up on infant medical things, get newborn cloth diapers, write up birth plan, pack hospital bag(s), tour hospital - YAY for progress!!!

Best Moment this week: Getting so much baby prep stuff done! It makes the idea of having this baby in 6 weeks not as scary.

Looking Forward To:

Comparison: Week 34

Picture(s) for this week

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Name Letters and Diapers

I finally got the letters done for Cadence's name wall hanging!! I still have to hang them up, but I am so glad to have the painting out of the way. Robert had the day off today so I took advantage of having someone to watch Kaylee and painted as quickly as I could.

The original letters

After a day and a half of paining:

The finished product - minus the white ribbon I plan to hang it with.

I have been looking a way to build up a newborn cloth diaper stash without spending too much money. I really didn't want to do the pre-folds thing, I wanted actual AIO or pocket diapers. A few days ago, I just happened to be lucky enough to hear about a bunch of bumGenius AIO seconds on sale at cottonbabies.com! I used my birthday money to get 12 of them at less than half off, and they are SO adorable!!

The whole pile

a whole lot of PINK!

Compared to a One Size Fuzzibunz Diaper that Kaylee wears now. Not the best picture :( these little things literally are as small as my hand!

I wish I could have gotten another dozen, and wish I had opted for boy colors rather than girl. I honestly didn't think they would send me SO many bright pink ones! Ha ha, I guess you live and learn! I am planning to make a dozen or so newborn AIO's that will definitely be gender neutral. That will be quite the adventure, and I am hoping to get started on them in the next couple weeks.

Happy Birthday!!

Two years ago, this happened, and our lives will never be the same again!

I truly can not believe Kaylee is two years old today! She is such an amazing little girl, and we could not be more lucky to have her as our daughter.

We decided to celebrate her birthday a week early this year because my cousin is getting married today and I wanted to be able to be there to support her. Plus Robert is in Denver working so a party just wouldn't have worked. The week leading up to her party was insane, so I didn't even think about the party until about 2 days before. Robert was in Denver the whole week, and we had plans to go out for MY birthday the Friday night before the party. So it was pretty crazy at our house. My wonderful mother came up on Friday to watch Kaylee so we could go out and celebrate my birthday, and then she stayed overnight to help with the party in the morning.

I don't know how to make birthday party day less crazy, but I need to figure it out for next year. With all of the decorating, cake baking, present wrapping, and guest greeting, I am amazed I survived.

The cakes:

The mail cake for everyone to eat

Her personal cake

This party ended up being only family, but we still had a lot of fun. I am hoping by next year that we know some more people around here and Kaylee will have some little friends who can come to her party. That would be SO much fun!

The party room!

Kaylee woke up in an odd mood from her nap so she was quite overwhelmed by the whole party atmosphere. I think next year we will open a good majority of her presents on a different day so that that part of the party doesn't completely wear her out.

She loved throwing the balloons up and trying to get them to hit her head on the way down

She was so cute playing with the balloons!

She sat and opened presents for a few minutes

A Chain-mail outfit from her daddy

Playing with more balloons

She loved rolling on the floor with this huge teddy bear

She has figured out how to wrap things around her fingers, and gets pretty serious about it sometimes

Kaylee is so loved, and got some wonderful presents from her family. She hasn't decided which is her favorite, but loves that she has some outside toys now.

She was pretty done with the whole party scene after presents, and once again didn't want her birthday cake. She played in it, but didn't want to eat any of it. Next year we might have to figure out something other than cake.

A tired girl, ready for candles to blow out

She really liked the "fire" on her cakes

Blowing out the candle(s) with my help

She eventually had all of her toys, and most of the candles all piled on her little cake.

There are some things I would like to do differently next year that, I hope, will make it easier for her to enjoy her whole party.

Happy Birthday little girl! You are such a blessing in our lives and we couldn't ask for a better daughter. Life is going to get even better once your little sister arrives, and I am sure you will be the perfect example to her. We love you, and are so happy to have you with us!

33 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights: I was so busy this week, I am just glad I am still pregnant!

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Baby's senses are continuing to improve - when light peeks through your belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And baby can now recognize and react to simple songs...time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth is starting to slow and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.

Size of baby: a little over 17" head to heel - weighs a little over 4 lbs - On our ultrasound on Tuesday she was measuring only 3 lbs 7 oz....which is quite a bit smaller. She is measuring almost 3 weeks behind, but I am hoping that is wrong. I have read that the further along in the pregnancy you are, the less accurate the ultrasound measurements are.

Weight: 200.4 - Ugh......

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gain: 13.2 lbs

Stretch Marks! - Eeekk! I already have a couple showing up on the top of my belly :( Oh, well, part of pregnancy for me I guess.

Maternity Clothes: A couple of my shirts are not fitting too well even as maternity shirts :(

Gender: GIRL!!

Name: Cadence McKenzie Ricks

Movement: Pretty normal. She is quiet some days, and crazy others.

Sleep: Pretty decent with bad nights thrown in.

Exercise: Swimming lessons with Kaylee, walking the dogs, packing for a weekend in Idaho, and other craziness things that kept me moving all week.

Hypnobabies: Week 3 - I am still LOVING hypnobabies! It is making me feel so much more confident in my birthing abilities.

Symptoms: Back pain when I drive in the car for a long time.

Throw up tally: 3

What I miss: I really missed being agile and flexible this week.

Cravings: Food just isn't that great anymore.

Aversions: Nothing major.

Things to do: Move Crib into Nursery, Paint/decorate name letters, buy crib bedding, make a decision on painting the room, wash baby clothes, stock up on infant medical things, get newborn cloth diapers(I am excited to do a post about these!). - YAY for progress!!!

Best Moment this week: Getting to see Cadence's HAIR on the ultrasound!

Looking Forward To: Yet another ultrasound on Tuesday.

Comparison: Week 33

Picture(s) for this week

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The belly picture for this week may not happen.....I have been, and will be super busy! But I do have ultrasound pictures!!

This one was so hard to take a picture of!! She was grabbing at her big toe with her foot up over her face....if you can tell that from the picture.

Hair!!!

Profile - her face is pointing to the left of the picture

Her little foot

Finally, a step in the right direction!

I finally took a little baby step in getting ready for little Cadence to join our family! I bought her crib bedding!

Now, you may be wondering why I bought MORE bedding when we still have Kaylee's bedding. It's because, Where is the fun in that!?! I didn't want their rooms to look the same because they are going to be different people. And because I liked shopping for bedding so much. I am going to be selling Kaylee's as soon as she is out of her crib and getting her some nice toddler/twin bedding.

From the beginning I had in mind an image of light purple bedding with butterflies on it, and this weekend I found exactly that! It was so affordable and it is really cute!

The whole set

The blanket

Wall hangings - These are really adorable!

Mobile

Lamp

That purchase seems to have been exactly what I needed to get motivated to work on the nursery and getting everything we still need. With Robert's help, we moved the crib out of Kaylee's room and set it up in the nursery. Kaylee has her big girl bed all set up and tonight is her first night in it. I cleaned the entire nursery room, vacuumed and set the furniture up where it is going to be. I threw all the bedding in the washing machine and will be decorating the crib soon.....probably tomorrow while I still have the urge to finish the room.

Sadly, I didn't take a before picture, but here is what it looks like now!

Finally! It looks like it can be lived in!

The crib with just the bumper and mobile

The lamp and wall decorations

I am still trying to decide if I want to pain the room, but I couldn't resist the urge to get things organized in there. Now we are a HUGE step closer to being ready for Cadence to get here. What a load of stress off my shoulders!

Holy Crap! 8 weeks to go!

I just about had a heart attack when I realized yesterday that I only have 8 weeks left of this pregnancy! It has gone by so quickly!

Pregnancy Highlights: What a week this has been! Doctor's appointment, swimming lessons, birthdays, single parenthood; it has been crazy!

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Baby's energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though they don't necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments.

Size of baby: Roughly 16.7" Head to heel - Weighs around 3.75 lbs

Weight: 199.2 - I am SO close to that 200 lb mark that I have to keep reminding myself to nit freak out about it and that it will all go away once the baby is here.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gain: 12 lbs

Stretch Marks! - Eeekk! I already have a couple showing up on the top of my belly :( Oh, well, part of pregnancy for me I guess.

Maternity Clothes: A couple of my shirts are not fitting too well even as maternity shirts :(

Gender: GIRL!!

Name: Cadence McKenzie Ricks

Movement: Pretty normal. She is quiet some days, and crazy others. I don't know, but I think she has been doing summersaults because some days she feel like she is head down and others like she is back to being breach.

Sleep: Pretty decent with bad nights thrown in.

Exercise: Walking with the dogs a couple times a week, when it stays cool enough in the mornings to go. I went swimming with Kaylee every morning this week for her lessons, but I wouldn't exactly count that as exercise since I was standing on the bottom the whole time.

Hypnobabies: Week 2 - I was starting the weeks on Wednesday, but that was confusing me so I did this week a little longer than "normal" and will start Week 3 on Monday. I am LOVING this so far! It is making me feel so much more confident in my birthing abilities.

Symptoms: Back pain when I drive for a long time.

Throw up tally: 3

What I miss: Nothing this week!

Cravings: Nothing, food is not super appealing this week.

Aversions: Nothing major.

Things to do: Move Crib into Nursery, Paint/decorate name letters, buy crib bedding, make a decision on painting the room, wash baby clothes, stock up on infant medical things, get newborn cloth diapers. - I swear, this stuff is going to get forgotten until she gets here! I am at least planning to move the crib up to the babies room next Saturday, than I can decorate it a little more easily.....

Best Moment this week: I don't think I have a specific one this week, it went by so fast!

Looking Forward To: Meeting with a potential Doula today!

Comparison:

Picture(s) for this week

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Week 32