Thirty Six Weeks...

How far along: 36 weeks! 

Size of baby: Londyn Grace is a growing girl! Probably somewhere around 6 pounds now!

Maternity clothes: I am loving my boots and other fall clothes, but not much of what I had last year fits! I don't really want to buy much since she'll be here within the next few weeks, so I'm going to try to make what I have work.

Gender: it’s a girl!!!!! ... Londyn Grace

Movement: The other night we were sitting on the couch and Daniel had his arm stretched across my belly when Londyn kicked him! It was too cute! 

Sleep: Waking up frequently to use the bathroom and change positions, but sleeping pretty well otherwise!

What I miss: Being able to put socks or leggings on easily! :) It’s pretty difficult to reach my feet these days!

Cravings: Mostly just thirsty! Seems like I’ve been drinking water constantly.

Symptoms: I think I’ve had a few Braxton Hicks contractions this week!

Best Moment this Week: 

• Hearing our sweet girl’s heartbeat at my appointment on Wednesday! It never gets old! We will have weekly appointments from here on out!

• Making a wreath to hang on the door on Londyn’s “birth” day!

• Ordering a few things for Londyn’s newborn pictures! I can’t wait for them to come!

• Just getting closer to October! 

Thirty Five Weeks...

How far along: 35 weeks!

(We decided to do this week's picture in her nursery since it was super sunny on the porch this morning!)

Size of baby: Londyn Grace is the size of a honeydew! 

Maternity clothes: Since it cooled off a bit this week, I pulled out my fall clothes today! My sweater is not maternity, but my skirt and tank are!

Gender: it’s a girl!!!!! ... Londyn Grace

Movement: We’ve got a busy girl on our hands!

Sleep: Once I finally fall asleep, I’ve been sleeping well. I just lay there for awhile thinking about her and wondering when she’s going to arrive!

What I miss: Nothing! Savoring every little kick and movement, knowing I only have a few more weeks until I won’t be feeling them anymore! 

Cravings: Anything sweet!

Symptoms: Not as much heartburn this week, probably because I’ve been watching what I eat a little better. I also think she’s dropped! Earlier this week her little foot was up under my ribs, and now it’s much lower. Several people at church today commented on how much lower I’m carrying!

Best Moment this Week: Buying her carseat and stroller on Monday and watching Daniel put them together! He’s such a good Daddy and already loves his little girl so much!

Londyn's Nursery

If you know me in real life, you know I love all things antique and vintage so when it came to Londyn's nursery I knew I wanted it to be very girly with a vintage feel. I inherited my love of old furniture, dishes, and anything with peeling paint for that matter from my parents! Growing up I spent many a Saturday with them learning how to snag a bargain at auctions and yard sales because they have a home based business selling antiques.

Over the last several months, I've been pinning and planning like crazy gathering ideas for our sweet girl's room.

I wanted to start with her crib bedding and base the rest of the decor around it. I fell in love with a bedding set that used stripes, floral and polka dots in combination giving it the vintage look I wanted, but it was too expensive. Then searching local stores every crib bedding set I found was either too themed for my taste or too pricey for my budget. That's where my Mom Mom and Mama came in! Mama bought a vintage floral sheet set that my Mom Mom used to sew the bumper pads and valances. We then bought the pink, green, and blue polka dot fabric from JoAnn's to use for the ruffled crib skirt. I found the pink and white striped crib sheet at Target! I am so pleased with how it turned out!

Londyn's entire nursery is such a testimony of God's provision!

Her Daddy painted the walls with a gallon of seven dollar Behr paint and primer in one that we found in Home Depot's Oops section!!

A sweet friend sold my Mama the crib for twenty bucks, and I have previously blogged about the deal we got on the glider and ottoman ($50 for both, originally $600 at Babies R Us!) which just happened to be the sage green color that matched the bedding perfectly! 

My Mom Mom also sewed the adorable polka dot pillow and my Aunt crocheted the blanket on the back of the chair.

 Then I found the precious wicker dresser and nightstand at Goodwill, only paying twenty five dollars for the pair! The lamp was a Goodwill find that I decorated using coffee filters and lots of hot glue ($10 total!). I bought the frame on clearance at Marshall's for three bucks and printed the"Babies Don't Keep" poem from Pinterest.

Most of the other accessories I snagged from other areas of the house or had my Mama dig them out of storage from when I was a baby!

We did buy the cream area rug at Bed, Bath and Beyond for forty dollars, but even that was a good deal compared to other rugs I had priced.

 

Daniel worked really hard on her chalkboard wall (which I plan to use as a backdrop for her monthly pictures and for writing Scripture on!) and the pennant banner was a decoration at our shower!

 The pink dress, bonnet, and both pairs of shoes were mine as a baby and I love the fact that they're now in her nursery!  

I got my Peter Rabbit in my Easter basket as a toddler and it quickly became my favorite stuffed animal. Since I wanted to use him in the nursery, I found vintage Beatrix Potter book pages on Etsy and framed them (in Goodwill frames!) to coordinate with him!

Back when we first found out we were expecting, our neighbors were having a yard sale before selling their home. I bought the antique carriage which I want to use for her newborn pictures from them for twenty dollars!

On the shelf, I placed a framed maternity picture, the "L" we used at our maternity shoot that I covered with a lace tablecloth from our wedding, (the letters in her name above the crib were hung on the branch with the same lace!), a Willow Tree figurine we received at our shower and a few vintage children's books!

So Londyn Grace's nursery is ready for her arrival! I love how girly and vintage it is and how every piece has a story of the Lord's goodness to us behind it! He is truly a God of the details and cares enough about us to give us the desires of our hearts even in the little things!

     I am getting so excited about having our baby girl here!

Thirty Four Weeks...

How far along: 34 weeks!

Size of baby: Our baby girl is the size of a butternut squash!

Maternity clothes: Trying to make what I have last for a few more weeks! 

Gender: it’s a girl!!!!! ... Londyn Grace

Movement: Love feeling her little feet kicking me!

Sleep: Back to lying awake thinking about everything from what she'll look like to the things left on my to-do list before she arrives!

What I miss: Nothing, just trying to savor these last few weeks.

Cravings: Still nothing specific!

Symptoms: Just heartburn at night! Feeling extremely blessed and very thankful for a healthy pregnancy thus far.

Best Moment this Week: 

• Finishing her nursery with the help of my parents and my hubby! It turned out exactly how I wanted it to! It's my new favorite room in the house! I can't wait to have our baby girl here so she can enjoy it, too! I am working on a Nursery Tour post, but Blogger is being frustrating with picture placement! It will be up soon!

• Meeting a sweet missionary family that Daniel went to Bible College with. Daniel and Deana are missionaries to Liechtenstein which is a small country in Europe. Deana is expecting a little girl in December so we have a lot in common! They also have a adorable little boy named Micah! We so enjoyed our fellowship with them this weekend.

Just a "few" pictures from our Maternity Shoot!

On Saturday, we were blessed to have a fellow pastor's daughter take our maternity pictures! We so enjoyed our afternoon at Ringwood State Park with Lindsey and her friend Taylor, who ended up carrying all of our props! :) Lindsey did an AMAZING job, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! I love having this reminder of this season in our lives!

Of course, Daniel's favorite is the one with her Michigan dress! :) I'm having a hard time picking just one! I love all of them! :) I'm still trying to choose which one I want to frame for her nursery!

My Baby Shower!

Warning: This is a very long post!

Since Daniel is a pastor and has various responsibilities that keep him busy all day Sunday, Mondays are his usual day off. When we go to Maryland for a visit, we usually leave after evening service on Sunday night and spend the night with my parents or with his so we can have all day Monday to visit with our sweet families! 

I usually LOVE our Sunday night through Monday night time in Maryland since we don’t see our family on a weekly basis due to living 3.5 hours from them. Daniel has been so wonderful about spending his day off driving me down and back again in time for him to get some sleep for work on Tuesdays. Whenever I ask to go, he is willing, but this past Sunday night it was him who kept saying that we needed to go down for a visit. Normally, I would jump at the chance to do so, but lately I have just been SO anxious to get her nursery finished and the house ready for this baby! Mondays are also the only day Daniel has to spend time at home so I kept saying we really should just stay here and work on Londyn’s room and get some rest from a very busy weekend, but he kept insisting that we go.

He drove us down and we stayed at his parents house for the night. I got up early to meet my parents (it was their 29th wedding anniversary) so we could see my little cousin off on her first day of Kindergarten and then visit my grandmothers and pick up the curtains my Mom Mom had sewn for Londyn’s room. While doing those things, Daniel kept texting me asking me to come back to his parents house so we could have lunch with a boy that was in our youth group at our old church that is leaving for the Marines in a few weeks. I wanted to see him, but I also wanted to spend time with my parents and grandmothers. Reluctantly, I agreed to cut my visits short and head back for lunch. 

We had a great time catching up with Austin and enjoying a yummy lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. After lunch, we headed back to Daniel’s parents house. We sat and talked with his mom for awhile and he kept encouraging me to go lay down since I was tired from getting in late the night before and we would be getting home late. I kept saying I was fine because I didn’t want to spend time we could be visiting sleeping! We could’ve stayed in New Jersey if we wanted to sleep! But again reluctantly I agreed and Daniel said he’d be up to nap with me. 

After our nap, Daniel said he wanted to go down and visit his grandparents before we headed back to Jersey. As we got ready to go, I got a text from my sister asking us to come over for an anniversary dinner for my parents. We decided we could do both since   Daniel’s grandparents only live a few minutes from my sister and brother in law. My sister said dinner would be at 6:30 and it was only a little after 5:00 at that point so we went into town and got a card for my parents and also picked up tea that my sister asked us to bring. 

When we turned onto the road where my sister and brother in law live, I saw that this was definitely not an anniversary dinner! My parents and sister and brother in law were standing there with their signs!

The yard was full of friends and family all there for my shower!! It was a wonderful surprise! I didn't have any makeup on and told Daniel I wasn't getting out of the car! :)

Everything was decorated perfectly! 

They used lots of vintage pieces, and several things, like the little black shoes, that my Mama saved from when I was a baby!

 The adorable water bottle labels read:

Tiny hands and tiny feet...
It's not too long before we meet!

Londyn Grace...Arriving October 2012 

My brother in law worked really hard on this precious baby carriage! It was almost too cute to eat!

 The other desserts on the dessert table! Everyone worked so hard on making them look and taste great!

My sister won Chic Fil A in a Facebook contest so they catered my shower! It was SO good!

 Once we enjoyed the yummy food and played a few games, it was time to open presents! Isn't the clothesline adorable? 





The sweet diaper cake and super cute giraffe topper (which is actually a soft toy for Londyn!) that my cousin, Jenn, made!

 I was privileged to have both my Mom Mom (my Mom's mom) and my Mamal (my Mom Mom's mom) at my shower. 




My Mamal embroidered the bibs and my Mom Mom made the quilt for our  Londyn girl!

My little cousins were such BIG helpers! They passed me the presents so I could open them!

Daniel's parents bought Londyn her first Game Day gear! :)





My parents purchased the cloth diapers I really wanted to use for our girl! I am excited about the money they will save us in the long run!

My aunt (and photographer for the evening!) crocheted this pink and white blanket! It's a tradition for her to make one for each of the nieces and nephews, and now Londyn has her own! 



Five generations
(including Londyn Grace!)

My sweet hubby and me! He loaded the car and drove us back to Jersey really late Monday night and had to get up early for work on Tuesday! He's the best!

We received SO many precious gifts for our baby girl, so many that my parents have to bring the rest of them when they visit! I didn't include a picture of everything for the sake of space, but we are so very grateful for each one that came and blessed us with their presence at the shower and for those who worked SO hard to make it the wonderful evening it was!