Inn Above Onion Creek

We went on our last road trip of the pregnancy a few days ago. We stayed at a little bed & breakfast in Kyle, Texas. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Everyone we met there had been multiple times so I'm sure we'll be back once Alex is born. Here is a picture of the front of the house...our room was on the 2nd floor so we had a great view of the sunset.


We stayed in the Martin room. It was so cozy and relaxing!

Not only did they serve a wonderful breakfast, but dinner was included too. It was phenomenal. The first night we had NY Strip steaks, garlic roasted mash potatoes, steams asparagus and banana's foster! The second night we had herb crusted rack of lamb, mushroom risotto, grilled squash and an apple tart with mascarpone. I could have stayed for a week just for the food!

On our way home we stopped in San Marcos to do a little shopping. We got some cute frames for Alex's room. They match the pink ceiling perfect! Now I just have to figure out what I am going to put in them!

I can't believe as of today I am officially 30 weeks into my pregnancy. It seems so weird that in 10 weeks our baby girl will be here! I start having my doctors appointments every 2 weeks now. Sometime towards the end, they become weekly. I am still feeling great, other than being a little uncomfortable when I sleep. She has become more active than ever. She has been getting the hiccups in the morning. It is so cute. We just lay there and watch my stomach bounce! I already love her so much, I just can't wait to meet her!

just another day

Since I found out I was pregnant, I have had nothing but first...first time to actually have a belly, first time to see my baby on the ultrasound screen, first time to feel her kick, and so on and so on. Today I experienced my first last. Today is officially the last day I will be able to paint my toes myself. I've always done my own toes because I am too ticklish to get a pedicure. Well, apparently sitting on the bathroom floor bending over to paint my toes does not agree with Baby Girl. I have noticed in the past few days if I sit with bad posture, she kicks me so I straighten up. I guess I am invading her space. I have no idea why in the world I thought she would be ok with me bending over to paint my nails. She kicked a little, but then she settled down. I figured she was ok. When I finally stood up, my stomach was rock hard. I guess that is her way of asking me, or rather telling me, I better not do that again. Live and learn.

We are heading out of town tomorrow. I am so excited. We are staying at a bed and breakfast in Kyle, just outside of Austin. They serve breakfast and dinner so my plan is just to relax as much as possible. Coopie is staying with his "Aunt Linda." She was his foster mom for a little while before we adopted him. She has 3 other dogs that he adores. I know he is going to have fun playing with them, but it is still hard for me to leave him. What am I going to do when Alex gets here. Am I ever going to be able to let her stay the night away from me if it is already hard for me to let my dog do it?

nursery in progress!

so we spent the day Saturday painting Alex's room. I know from the pictures, it looks like Josh did all the work, but I did my fair share! I taped all the baseboards and trimmed everything. Ok, so maybe it is harder to paint the ceiling, but at least I helped. I only have 1 picture of the finished product because Josh wants me to wait to post more until her room is completely put together. We decided the fan just doesn't look right in the room now, so we are on the hunt for a chandelier. I think we have narrowed it down to one at Home Depot. I can't wait until her furniture comes in so we can finish up the room. Right now, we just have the furniture in there that was in there before since we will need it when the families come down for the shower in 2 weeks. Sunday we went to the movies then relaxed, we were both worn out from painting. Josh has spent most of the day smoking a brisket. He got a new grill for his birthday so he is working on his first ever brisket! It smells so good! So does he, every time he comes in, he smells like a big smoke pit, I love that smell! While he has been keeping an eye on the brisket, I've been in an organizing mood. I re-organized the pantry, our closet and my drawers. I feel so productive....except for the fact that I haven't showered yet! :) I guess I better hop in the shower, we have company coming in a couple of hours!

xoxo-
j

Friday = Picture Day

28 week belly pic

Alex's adorable little face!

the bottom of her feet (near the top of the pic)

the glider and ottoman

close up of the fabric

the chair we received as a gift!

So yesterday was a busy day. We went to the doctor in the afternoon and had our 3rd (and final) ultrasound. Oh my gosh...Alex is the cutest little thing ever. She turned head down and the doctor said once they are head down, they usually don't move so that's a good thing! She was moving her little head, arms and legs all over the place. She is such a ham, she kept looking where the ultrasound wand thing was so all the pictures we have are of her entire face. There are a lot of shadows so it's kinda hard to see the features. The tech kept trying to get a profile picture, but she kept moving her head so we couldn't. At one point, we saw a profile for a few seconds and she was opening and closing her mouth. Then she moved before the tech could save the picture. I did see her chubby little cheeks. She is so adorable! She has her legs and feet straight up and her legs are crossed. She is already so lady like! lol The tech took all sorts of measurements and she is growing so much! She weighs about 2.6 lbs. Each measurement dates the pregnancy. I am officially 28 weeks and 6 days along. According to the size of her head and length of her femur I am about 29 weeks and 3 days along but according to her mid section, I am 28 weeks and 2 days. Josh said she is going to be just like me, big head, long legs and a little mid section. I just can't get over how different she looks from the very first ultrasound we had at 9 weeks. She truly looks like a baby now.

After we left the doctors office, we went to pick up the glider and ottoman. It turned out so cute! It matches the brown in her bedding perfectly!

Today I met one of my Mom's friends, her husband & their daughter for lunch. Her daughter is moving to College Station in August so she is looking for a job. We talked about the company I work for, what she needs to do to apply and College Station in general. They made me a baby gift. It is the cutest pink chair. It is going to look so good in her room.

Is it Thursday yet?

Yes, I know it is only Wednesday, which means yoga at 6:30. Hopefully it will better than last week. I can't wait until tomorrow...well, not so much 8-noon when I'll be at work, but tomorrow afternoon. I have a doctors appointment at 3:45 so I'm picking up Josh from work at 3:30 so we can head over there. Josh only goes to the appointments where we have ultrasounds, so yes, tomorrow is ultrasound day! I can't wait to see my baby girl again. This should be the last ultrasound, unless she is measuring large or small. If she is, then we may have another 1 or 2 as I get closer to 40 weeks to make sure she isn't going to be too big (like her Mama was) and to make sure she is still developing properly. I love that Josh goes with me. It is so amazing seeing our little girl on the screen. She always does the cutest things so I can't wait to see what she does tomorrow. I am also anxious to see how she is positioned. I feel random kicks all over the place. I have no idea where her head is.

In addition to the ultrasound, I received a call today from Let's Go Dreaming. It's the place we ordered her glider and ottoman from. Josh actually pointed out to me that it's not her glider and ottoman, it is mine. I'm sure Alex could care less if she has a chair in her room or not, but her Mama wants one so I guess Josh is right, it is my chair. Well anyway, MY glider and ottoman are in so we are picking it up after the appointment. I can't wait to see it. It was another one of those things were we picked the fabric for the chair from a tiny sliver in a book. I'm sure it turned out great! Once we get it home I'll take pictures and post them.

I should also have the ultrasound pictures posted on Friday...stay tuned!

drum roll please!

here are a few pictures of the bedding. keep in mind that her crib isn't here yet so I kinda set it up on our bed so it will look much better once it's ironed and on her crib!

what a weekend!

So, this weekend started out a little rocky! We planned on heading out of town by 6 or 6:30. Josh had a meeting in Houston that was supposed to end at 4. Well, he finally headed home at 5:30! By the time he got home, we were all ready to go! I got smushed in the back seat with Sheena and Cooper. Coop decided he wasn't happy with the small amount of space we gave him and opted to take up his space and part of mine so he basically laid across me for the almost 3 hour trip.

We finally got to the lake house, unloaded all the cars and everyone started hanging out playing Rock Band. Saturday, the fun really began. Josh and I got up and made breakfast for everyone then the guys and a few girls headed out to the gun range. I stayed back with Katie and Sheena so we could shower and stuff. When we got there, everyone was crowded around Tyler, Sheena's husband. As we got closer we realized Tyler was bleeding. Apparently, they were all shooting at something and ricochet from a 9mm bullet hit Tyler in the head. It really wasn't as bad as it sounds, but he had a piece of metal under his skin and he was bleeding pretty bad. Thankfully someone had a first aid kit so they were applying pressure to it with bandages. It finally stopped bleeding but the metal was still in there so we thought it would be best to take him to the ER in Athens. So off I went with Sheena and Tyler. When we got there, they immediately took him in and decided to do a CAT scan to see how many pieces were in his head and where exactly they were. There was only 1 piece and it was just under the skin. There was no other damage! They removed it, did an x-ray to make sure they got everything then put some glue stuff on his head to keep the wound closed. Everything was ok! 4 hours later we were back at the house. The rest of the weekend went by without any additional accidents. So we spent the rest of the time eating, playing games and relaxing. Although, I would have enjoyed a little more time relaxing than cooking!

Overall, it was a good weekend, but I could have used an extra day to rest! :)

I am so excited because when we came home for lunch today, Alex's bedding was on the porch. It is soo cute! I'll have to take some pictures and post them later! I can't wait for the crib to come in so we can put it all together! I think it may be time for a nap. Coopie is already passed out on the couch, I think I'll join him!

another weekend out of town...

so this will be the second weekend we, wait no, third weekend in a row we are going out of town. This is to finish celebrating Josh's 30th birthday. We are heading to his parents lake house with 5 other couples. I am really excited about it, last time we went everyone had a blast! I spent the afternoon yesterday grocery shopping for the weekend. Man, was I ever worn out last night. Baby Girl wasn't used to me being so busy. She is used to me coming home and relaxing. She made me pay for it last night. She was moving around so much I couldn't sleep. I think it was payback for me interrupting her relaxing afternoon. Today isn't much better. I have been running around the house finishing laundry so I can pack, trying to get the car loaded and just making sure we don't forget anything. I am already tired. I'm sure they won't mind if I sleep the entire drive down!

We finally took our 27 week belly picture last night, even though I'm almost 28 weeks! :) We have been so bad about doing them. But thankfully we have only missed one week. I can't wait to put together her memory book. I found the cutest one called The Belly Book that has a space for each week's belly pic. If course I had to have it once I found out I was pregnant, but the funny thing is, I haven't put one picture in it. hmm, maybe I'll get around to starting it before she makes her apperance!

Oh well, I better get to packing so maybe I can slip in a little nap before we head out!

xoxo-

Jamie

I did not sign up for this...

I have been so excited about being pregnant ever since I found out, and of course I still am, but some days I feel so worn out and beat down that I wish August 10th would just hurry up and get here. I have been waking up pretty much every night with leg cramps. I used to get leg cramps from time to time, but now it is every single night. To make matters worse, every time I wake up I have to pee, so it's work out the cramp then pee. Then of course when I get back in bed Alex is moving around so I just lay there feeling her kick until I finally fall back asleep.

I absolutely love feeling her kick but sometimes she is just plain mean. I'll be sitting there minding my own business and all of a sudden she gives me a swift kick in the ribs or the bladder. I guess I just have to think of it as it's her way of saying Mommy, I'm here! I'm doing ok!

When I finally entered my 2nd trimester my energy came back. As I move into my 3rd, it is slowly going away. I went to sleep at 9pm the other night then had to take a 2 hour nap when I got home from work the next day. I mean, I got winded mopping the kitchen floor today, it's so sad.

I used to look forward to my weekly yoga class. Tonight, I thought I was going to pass out. I just don't have the energy I used to.

Enough complaining...I am grateful that I have had a healthy pregnancy so far and that my baby girl is doing well. I am looking forward to next week when we have our 3rd ultrasound

Third Trimester...finally!

We had a nice relaxing weekend in Dallas. We met some friends for dinner on Friday, then spent the day Saturday shopping. (Our living room is finally coming together!) We had dinner with Josh's family Saturday then Sunday Josh made us breakfast and we went to see my family for lunch. We had decided no Mother's Day or Father's Day gifts since technically, we are not yet parents, but Josh ended up getting me the sweetest card. He's the best. I also got a card from Cooper, my little snuggle bug!

I will admit, I have been very proud of myself today. I've been very productive. I purchased the paint for Alex's room so we will start (and hopefully finish) painting Memorial Day weekend. It is going to be soo cute. I also ordered her bedding. It should be here in the next 2 weeks. I am so excited about the bedding, especially since I don't know exactly what it will look like. I ordered fabric samples and mixed and matched a few, so I am excited to see the finished product. Once the room is painted, I'll post pictures.

Alex was so active this weekend. She is definitely getting a little mind of her own. If I move into a position she does not like, she will not hesitate to kick me until I move again. I got some nice kicks to the bladder and ribs this weekend. I felt my first contractions last night. It kinda freaked me out. My belly looked huge and oval shaped and it was so hard. It was a little painful, mostly because I wasn't really expecting it but it passed quick and everything was ok. Josh is always so funny about my belly. He gets on to me for poking it. I told him she can kick me all she wants, if I want to poke her one in a while, I can. It is really just to see if she will kick back and she usually does. When she moves it freaks him out a little. The kicks don't really bother him, but when she curls up on one side of my belly and pushed out, it looks like I have an alien in there and he gets weirded out. We both are just so excited to finally meet her.

off to Dallas

so this will be the second weekend in a row we are in Dallas. Josh has to go into the office and I think I'm going to do a little shopping, then we are meeting friends for dinner. Tomorrow we are having a Mother's Day dinner with Josh's family then Sunday we are having lunch with my family then heading back home. We took a long break from Dallas since we were there pretty much every other weekend for a while. The more we go back the more I miss being there. Not that I don't like College Station, but I love the convenience of everything, shopping selection and most of all the restaurants!

I am feeling great today, which thankfully is something I have been able to say pretty much everyday of my pregnancy so far! I spent the afternoon preparing Josh's birthday dinner (which turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself) so I was worn out last night. It was nice to sleep in today. I love the mornings because Alex is soo active, so I just lay there with my hand on my belly feeling her kick. Here is my most recent belly picture! (Coopie wanted to get in on the action too!) Some days I look down and can't believe how big my belly looks. I know I still have 13 more weeks to go and it is just going to keep growing. It's amazing!

Now it's off to pack, finish laundry and shower!

better late than never...

So I guess I should have started this several months ago! We found out a little over 5 months ago that we are expecting our first (and only) child! We were so excited, especially since we had only been trying for about 3 weeks. Yes, 3 weeks. I guess I'm pretty fertile! :)

We have spent the last 5 months preparing for the little one's arrival. For those of you who don't know, we are having a little girl! Alexandra Rae Stafin, or Alex for short!

It feels like the last 5 months have flown by. I can't believe I am almost in my 7th month! She will be here before I know it. We already have most of the stuff for her room ordered, now it is just a matter of getting it here before she arrives.

Today is Josh's 30th birthday so Cooper and I are busy getting the house decorated! He mentioned about a month ago he wanted German food and since there are no German places here in College Station, I decided to do it myself. Wish me luck!

I'll add pictures and stuff later when I have more time!

xoxo-
jamie