1 month from today...

or maybe less, we'll meet Baby Eli!!!

I am officially on maternity leave and getting really excited about meeting our little one in a month or less.  All of a sudden the past 8 months feel like they have just flown by and I can't believe that we are so close. 

I officially went on maternity leave yesterday and all of a sudden I am feeling the aches and pains that everyone told me would come along with the 3rd trimester.  My belly is feeling more and more heavy, I can feel Eli pressing on my bladder and creating pressure on my pelvis, my feet are beginning to really swell, no matter what I eat I get heartburn and I can no longer get up from the couch without a lot of rolling around or someone to pull me up.  I really do think that my body held out on all these symptoms till it knew I was completely done with weddings and all the physical labor that comes along with them.  I am really enjoying the idea of Baby Eli being here though, I am getting so excited and want to wash all his clothes already.  Is it to early? It all looks so cute and tiny and I can't wait to get him in the little onesies and sleepers and then I look at the older clothes and just imagine him toddling around holding Jeremiahs hand and smiling.  I am also getting really curious to see what he is going to look like.  Can't wait to find out soon!

The nursery is still not done, I bought some shelves to hang above the dresser which I think I will do after I am done with this post and hope to have pictures soon.  We are waiting for our rocker/recliner to come in from Babies r Us and I still need someone to do some touch up trim painting, oh and of course the baseboards!  Baseboards have become an enemy of mine, I buy them and then they never get installed.  I am still waiting for them to be installed in the living room 2 years later.  I can't wait to get that space finished so I can share it on here and so that I can sit in there waiting for Eli to arrive.  Oh and I need an area rug too.  Guess I have lots to do and hopefully I can get it done soon.

Maternity Photos

We got some teasers from the lovely Melissa McClure of the maternity photos we took earlier this week.  Here are a few favorites...

It is always so amazing to work with Melissa on weddings and when I see her work I am always in awe, but to see your self in the beautiful photos is so much fun and simply amazing.  Thanks Melissa for capturing such a special and wonderful time in our lives.

:)

Baby Shower

My wonderful sister, with the help of one of my sister-in-laws and best friend, threw me a wonderful shower a few weeks ago at The Brigintine.  It was a week after my brother-in-law and new sister-in-laws wedding so lots of family was in town to enjoy as well. 

It was such a wonderful day and I have been having so much fun putting things away and getting ready for Eli's arrival.

Sneak Peak Nursery

Ok, so I only have the crib complete but I am already getting so excited to see baby Eli sleeping in it!!!  My mom and I were going to make the bedding ourselves but as my due date is quickly approaching, the idea of one more project seemed too hard.  Instead I decided to go on target.com to find something cute, anyone notice how Target.com has even cuter stuff online than in the store?  Anyway, I found this set and decided it was perfect.

It introduces orange to the color scheme which I LOVE LOVE LOVE and decided that spending $80 for a set is well worth the cost and a much better idea than making everything from scratch.

The crib I got on craigslist.com for $40 brand new in the box!  Steal!  However, it came walnut so Jeremiah had to paint it semi-gloss white.  Don't worry, I checked online and asked the guys at Home Depot and they told me that spray painting a crib is perfectly safe and Lead free.  Actually the Home Depot paint guys exact words were, "Do you know where the paint on cribs from stores come from? China! You don't even want to know what is in that stuff" and I totally agree.  Plus the crib rails came with plastic guards so if Eli turns out to be a chewer, he will only be able to chew on plastic and not paint.  Soooo, without further adieu, here is the crib...

I love it so much and all I want to do is go in there and look at it :):):).  By the way, that cute baby blue elephant in the crib is from Eli's sweet cousin Ethan who specially picked it out for him because thier names start with E's and so does Elephant :).

My mom came over yesterday and painted his dresser for me and it is in the room but I am waiting for the paint to cure a little more before I place things on it and decorate it; those pictures to follow soon.  Count down begins...only 1 month and 6 days till our due date!

Totally lagging

I am officially 30 weeks and 4 days and really lagging and falling behind on my personal "To Do" list.  I am feeling overwhelmed by the remaining 6 weddings left in my wedding season and just can't get ahead of the game as I get more and more tired.  I am super excited for all the weddings to be over because then I can be super excited about meeting baby Eli in September and finishing all these personal things on my to do list. 

On top of that, the summer is flying by and I am not getting to enjoy it because of all these weddings!  Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I love the freedom of being self employed but sometimes I envy the people that are at the beach or enjoying the sun on the weekends when I am frantically setting up wedding arches and putting out centerpieces.  Guess that is just the price I pay though for the freedom to do what I want during the week. 

Just a little vent session, sorry.

On a more fun note...we have a Gonzalez wedding coming up in a week and a half which means lots of family will be here from Texas to celebrate and visit.  I can't wait to see everyone and share in such a fun time.  Here is a picture of my brother -in-law and his future wife when they 1st started dating back in 2008...

 and here is them at our wedding, she caught the bouquet (ok so maybe I chucked it at her) and he caught the garter...

Hope to have lots of pictures from their big day to share.

No finished Master Bedroom pictures :(

Well it's painted, curtains have been ordered, baseboards behind my humongeous (is that a real word? If so, is that how you spell it?) desk are in and bookshelves are gone. That's really as far as we got but it is already so much better than before.  Our decorating came to a sudden hault because of the amount of weddings I have going on right now.  Next week I will have more time to finish the final touches and update with more pictures.

However, I will document a new belly photo of me at 27 weeks...I'm getting bigger!  I had someone ask me yesterday when I was due because I look like I am ready to go, :( thanks!

Baby Eli is kicking and moving and rolling and it is so weird to see a hand or leg roll across my stomach and while it feels really neat, it also feels kinda creepy. 

100 days left!!!

According to thebump.com we only 100 days till baby Eli gets here!  I have been feeling good, working hard and trying to stay rested through wedding season, 11 weddings to go I'll be done.  I have a new 25.5 weeks belly picture to share,  taken with the ol' Blackberry since Jeremiah has my camera as usual.  Getting bigger by the day and starting to notice that I am getting up from bed, the couch or a low car just a little slower. 

We are all signed up for childbirth and breastfeeding class next month and looking forward to talking about birth plans and expectations for the day.

We decided to use the Birth Center at UCSD (the only birth center in a hospital west of the Rockies) and are excited about our choice.  It is interesting because we have the comfort and mind set of a birthing center with mid-wives and tubs and regular 4 post beds but it is all in the UCSD hospital so if anything goes wrong at anytime, you can be rushed off to the regular labor & delivery unit.  A lot of people think I am crazy for choosing this route but I want to give an honest try at completely natural child birth so that I can have a faster recovery and to see what it is all about.  I figure if women all over the world can give birth without drugs or intervention then being that I am a completely healthy woman with no complications (thus far) I can do it.  I may be screaming and yelling and telling a certain spouse I hate him but I think I can do it.  We'll see how it all goes :).

In home decorating news, I finally finally got the paint to paint our master bedroom this week but it is a little more Caribbean turquoise than I wanted and I need to take it back to add a little white and lighten it up but hopefully our master bedroom will be done this weekend.  Then it will be onto the nursery!  Here is my inspiration picture again...