I’m writing this a bit in advance, baby boy should be here by the time this posts! We can’t wait to meet him. March was filled with final prep for baby, doctor’s appointments, time with family (Neil visited from Chicago early in the month), dinners with friends (Dinner Club at Ragazza, Sonya’s birthday at Lidia’s, Bamboo Penny’s with Mary, Kam, Megan and Matt, and Tavern with Heather) and finishing up work before my leave. We are SO excited for what April and this Spring will bring!

This month we decided to get a new rug for our kitchen and went with this beautiful one from Anthropologie. While we loved our old one, it unfortunately was pretty worn from the past almost five years.
Right before baby we made these two frozen meals to have on hand. Looking forward to both the stuffed shells and quinoa dish!
I would love to have an entire tea station like this someday!
These wedding photos caught my eye, especially the ones peeking through the grass.
Love the idea of having a keepsake of baby’s hand and foot prints – these shadow boxes from Cowtown Clay are a beautiful option!
While I am a diehard Artifact Uprising fan (and ordered my baby book from them), I also love this option for a first year book from Printique.
A fun video from my Hallmark photo studio friends about turning a card into a gift!
Obsessed with these beautiful pressed flower pieces.

Welcome, baby boy!

As the end of my pregnancy approaches I wanted to take a bit of time to look back on the past nine-ish months and write down a few memories. We found out we were expecting on July 21, 2022. Here are a few key moments that I want to make sure we remember:

We shared our news with family over a few weeks. I couldn’t help but call my mom right away, but we also planned to do something special to share with Dale’s family! After confirming everything was okay with baby at our August 16th ultrasound, we spent the following weekend with the Smiths. Dale dropped little plastic babies into drinks until my sister-in-law, Heidi, finally noticed and asked why there was a baby in her drink! It was a really hilarious/special way to share our news!
Some of the first friends we told were Leslie, Nathan and Laura when we were at dinner celebrating Leslie & Nathan’s wedding. I did NOT want to share that night and interrupt the festivities, but I was so nervous about what to order I ended up having to!
At our 12 week ultrasound on September 21st, baby was bouncing around! My worst and main symptom the first trimester was TERRIBLE food aversions to basically all food. I forced myself to eat eggs and had a weird craving for cucumber tea sandwiches one week.
On October 3rd we received the results of our genetic tests and found out baby was a BOY! This time we called Dale’s family to share the news and then did a special reveal for my side of the family. Dale and I picked up balloons and put a few blue ones into a box to open in front of my parents, sisters, and grandparents.
November 16th was our 20 week anatomy ultrasound and we also took our Christmas card photos that same week. We even got to see a 3D version of his foot which unfortunately looked very long and skinny just like mine (HA).
The next week the monogrammed outfit I had ordered to take him home from the hospital arrived and we were making good progress on the nursery with the crib, bookshelf, paint and some decor done!
When I participated in the stained glass workshop at Hallmark and made a piece for baby’s room I had to have Matt solder for me so that I wasn’t exposed to any lead! We still need to get the final piece hung up!
By early December my baby bump was much more visible! I bought him a crochet triceratops on my work trip to Savannah in honor of our “baby dino” nickname.
My cousin Tim’s wife, Kelsea, was pregnant due exactly one week before me and we took matching bump photos at Christmas! Baby boy got lots of gifts before he was even born including his bouncer from Grammy and Pop.
Otto really started enjoying all the baby’s things at this point too, sleeping in the crib before we started closing the door to the nursery full time!
On January 7th (I was 28 weeks) Mary and Megan hosted my first baby shower at Megan’s house! It was so special to have so many friends celebrate baby boy. My other pregnancy craving has been cereal so they had a fun cereal bar as part of the food!
In early January Dale and I finally decided which stroller (the UppaBaby Vista) we wanted to order and it arrived! Otto immediately began to enjoy it as well.
January 21st my sisters and sister-in-laws hosted a family shower at Indian Hills Country Club! Amy and Shelby were also able to be at this shower. It was a beautiful celebration filled with yummy food, petit fours with blue bows, and storks. Dale also got to come by the last half of the shower and help open gifts!
By the end of January the nursery was basically complete as we got the blinds hung and papier-mâché sculpture for over the crib arrived. Dale and my dad eventually spent a few hours getting that hung VERY securely. Dale had also made sure all bookshelves and furniture was secure and that the artwork over the acrylic book shelves would not fall.
In early February Dale got covid which thankfully did not pass on to me or baby! After he recovered, we got our lovely maternity photos taken by Bethany and the day after that we celebrated Kelsea and baby girl at the shower Sophie, Grace and I hosted at my mom’s.
Our Valentine’s dinner at Lidia’s preceded a weekend at the Elms for my birthday/mini baby-moon. We took full advantage of the spa and my prenatal massage was just what I needed!
On February 22nd my amazing Hallmark co-workers hosted a shower for me at work! We received an amazing collection of books, our bassinet stand, and a push toy. Lisa, my mentor when I first started at Hallmark, also made baby boy a beautiful quilt!
At the end of February I finally got to meet my Holiday Mart Co-Chair, Heather’s, baby boy Archer! And just a few weeks later several friends all had their babies all on March 7th!
On February 26th we had our final baby shower with Dale’s Pulm co-workers. The lemon cake from Cafe Europa was delicious — I’ve never craved sweets like I have while pregnant!
I would call early March my waffle phase, specifically ones made by Mike.
On March 8th I posed for the sketch group at Hallmark and received some very special portraits that captured the bump!
At 36 weeks we found out baby boy was breech and unfortunately he has not flipped so a C-section was scheduled. These last few weeks have been filled with Amazon orders, cleaning the house, finishing photo books/scrapbooks for family and eating out with friends and family. We can’t wait to meet baby boy SO SOON!