Hawaii Baby!

I can seriously say our son went to hawaii before the age of 2 months! I AM SO GLAD I GOT TO EXPERIENCE OUR FIRST FAMILY VACATION IN SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE! We left for Oahu (north shore) to the Turtle Bay Resport Condos on a saturday and stayed overnight in Portland with my brother and sister in law! The plane ride to Portland was Carter's first time flying! HE DID SO WELL!!!! i was seriously anxious over the flights there but i was shocked they went SO well!

We spent valentines day on the beach and watching a surfing contest! My husband and my dad planned a special dinner at OPA the place in Forgetting Sarah Marshall where they ate outside with both couples.. it was so fancy and incredible!! There is a cove that this place is located in and we went to dinner early to take pictures!!!

We actually snorkeled in this cove a day before this picture was taken! i freaked.. i hate being in water where you cant see to the bottom! I SWORE A SHARK WAS GOING TO EAT ME! lol

Carter absolutely LOVED the weather in Hawaii... he was such a good boy! he relaxed all day and napped when we ate and woke up every morning and layed in the sun on his sheepy!!! My parents hadnt seen his morning smiles so they enjoyed getting to wake up to those big blue eyes and a baby full of smiles!

This was while we were watching surfers from the beach! This time of year the waves and currents are super dangerous and the beaches all had red flags on them warning tourists not to get into the water if they didnt know how to handle the waves! THOSE FLAGS WERE THERE FOR TOURISTS LIKE ME! haha

The reason we actually went to Hawaii was to go to a beautiful wedding! my girlfriend ashley who ive known since we were 14 tied the knot with Mike Iupati.. who plays for the sanfransico 49ers! lets just say my dad was in heaven going around at the reception talking to the other players as well as using carter as a way to get a picture with most of them! haha ohhhh man.. this picture is of carter bug on the way to the wedding! we dressed him in traditional relaxed hawaiian flower shirt and khaki shorts! HE WAS A HIT LET ME TELL YOU! he was loved on so much he was exhuasted by the time we got in the car to head home!!!

This is my handsome husband who (recently i suggested he cut his hair and he did!!!!! THANK GOD!!!) i mean hes handsome no matter what but i love the clean look! OMG LOOK AT THE PALM TREES I WANT TO GO BACK SO BAD!!!


We did so many fun things while in Hawaii i would absolutely love to visit again! We ate at Dukes in Honolulu.. Snorkeled in shark cove.. (WHICH I WAS FREAKED OUT ABOUT BUT IT WAS SO AMAZING) a hike through this beautiful valley to a huge waterfall justin and my dad swam in, and ate world famous food!!! If you havent been to hawaii you HAVE to go and have a shave ice!!!

On our way home i was seriously worried about Carter adjusting back to Boise time and how horrible it was going to be for me and jus!! AGAIN HE DIDNT EVEN HAVE TO ADJUST!!! i was so happy with the way carter loved his time in hawaii and how happy it made me to see him enjoy the time we had as a family and the memories we made!

Month One.. COMPLETE!!!

Carter Owen Mace is officially a month old.. HOW FAST DID THAT MONTH GO!!! I find myself waking up on pacifiers and milk stains on our comforter but WOW i am blessed.. motherhood is such an amazing feeling and im so grateful i was given the chance to have something bigger and more important than myself and what i have going on! The lack of sleep issue is another story though!! Jus and I are people who really rely on sleep and large quantities of it, but were learning each week that right now were going to have to sleep when he does and make the most of it!!

Another thing ive also learned is little boys will pee any random time, and you must always be alert! haha.. i swear, carter will be so stealth when it comes to peeing on me and jus! The person he really loves to pee on though is grandma debbie! She is always coming out after changing carter and saying, "He peed again!" Our friends the pinkleys actually gave us these little tee pee looking wash clothes and they are called "pee pee tee pees"... PRICELESS NAME.. but they dont soak up the pee AT all! what a nice thought though! The only thing ive found that really soaks up the large amount of pee our son has is wash clothes.. FULL wash clothes :)

This last weekend my brother and sister in law got to come to Boise and meet carter for the first time! I was so glad they finally met him because he is changing and growing every day! They are so smitten with him.. to say the least! We had such a fun weekend too!! we ate out way too much which sucks when youre on a baby weight losing diet but we enjoyed the time we got to spend with them and started our diets again after they left! We actually went out to dinner with them on saturday night at the reef and i had my first adult beverage in almost a year and holy moley was it strong! needless to say jus and i were home by 9:45 because we missed our baby so much! We were sad to see them go because we wont see them again until this summer but we really enjoyed the time they got to spend on the long holiday weekend!!

Carter boo is very cautious when it comes to bath time! As long as hes being held by Jus or I in the tub he LOVES the bath.. if we dont get in with him he absolutely HATES it! this picture is obviously when jus got in the tub with him by the look of the hair legs behind him but this face is priceless.. We have a really good routine though on bath days and Carter loves cuddling with dad after the bath!

Grandpa and Carter have a bond, something i love because i see the bond me and my father share in their relationship! Grandpa is soooooooo in love with his little man that he could do no wrong! Since im at my parents almost everyday while jus is at work they get to spend a lot of time together! Grandpa always comes and steals baby and i wont see them for hours! When i do go check on them carter is always on grandpa's chest fast asleep! HE IS THE BABY WHISPER when mama is busy!

In the past week Carter has become the ultimate mama's boy! I absolutely love it.. when hes fussy, mama can calm him.. when hes wanting to be rocked, mama knows just which way he wants to be held.. it makes every pain, sleepless night, and bathroom trip to pee while prego all worth it! He is my life... OUR LIFE!


It seems like im already forgetting the pain of delivery and recovery! I dont know exactly who told me this, but someone wise once told me that Mother Nature has a way of making us women forget the pain of pregnancy and delivery so we continue to reproduce! I think this has to be true because as the first month passed i would try to recall how it felt to get an epidural or the urge to push but i couldnt remember the exact feelings.. I know though, that right after carter was born i was telling Jus and my family that delivery was so easy i would be having many many more children, but the recovery and infection changed that answer within hours.. As time goes on i seem to be leaning towards many children again... I AM THE NEXT DUGGAR MOM! haha joking!

Ive learned so much in the small amount of time our son has been on this earth! He teaches us something new everyday.. like patience and how to relax when things dont go exact the way we hope (diaper changes where he pees all over himself and we have to change his entire outfit).. There is so much more he is going to teach us BUT I WANT HIM TO SLOW DOWN!!!! he is getting so huge! At his last doctors appointment he was over 11 pounds and over 23 inches long... this means he has grown over 2 full inches in a month! HE IS GONNA BE JUST LIKE DADDY! the issue though is that he is so long the three month clothes look like high waters on him!! I guess justin's mom had the same problem with jus at this age so we will have to just deal with it and make fun of him when hes 16 and he brings his gf home! hahaha!

All in all this month has flown by faster than any of the months i was pregnant! The saying is true time flies when youre having fun!! We are so looking forward to my friend Gina coming into town to take some pictures of him and then hawaii on the 10th of february!! OH YEA! this next month is going to be crazy traveling with a two month old, but thank heavens he gets his first round of shots before we leave the main land!!! Im so thankful for all the support and love you all have given my family and myself during the time i was in the hospital! it made a terrible situation bareable and im so glad i have you in my life!!!!

The Recovery... From the farthest corner of hell

December 7th, 2011 will always be the absolute most important and most meaningful day of my life... the day i met my son, the day we became a family, and the day my life officially became about more than just me and my needs! Carter has been the biggest blessing in our lives from not only our son but to our parents beautiful grand baby.. It was all so blissful for the first two days. It was all that i expected from a pregnancy, labor, and delivery! Me and justin really enjoyed the food and the ability to order as much food as we could handle! I got ridiculously addicted to the southwest breakfast burrito that i ordered it for almost every meal of the day as well as fruit plates and cranberry juice! I was loving nursing my son, but it was ALWAYS thirsty! it was unreal.. i cannot even describe the sheer thirst you have when your breast feeding!! It was all going so well that to all that were a part of the whole ordeal thought i was a blessed women and birthing babies was a natural process for me.... we all spoke WAY too soon!!!

On Friday December 9th, 2011.. everything that seemed ideal went the complete opposite way! We were an hour away from being discharged and i had just met with the lactation consultant to finalize all the learning i had done in the past two days in the hospital. I felt a little off and my groin was unreal tight, but to my knowledge at the time it was just normal recovery stuff... I stood up to use the bathroom before waking up justin to get carter changed and ready to go when my legs almost gave out. It felt like knives were being stabbed into my left groin and my legs werent working right. i slowly made it into the bathroom and took deep breathes through the pain but getting back into bed was sooooooooooooo horrible i started to actually cry and jus woke up wondering what the heck was going on! i couldnt explain it to the nurses or doctors when they were asking what i thought was going on. it got worse and worse throughout the day and it really got scary when i couldnt use my legs at all to move in and out of bed or to the bathroom. That night they moved us to a bigger room in hopes to help with all the madness. Through that weekend it got worse and worse.. my lady parts were so swollen and my ligaments hurt so badly that even talking was painful. My parents were so upset that they didnt have any idea what was going to happen. The doctor that was seeing me was an on call doctor... of course my doctor had to leave the country while all of this was going on! throughout the weekend the on call doctor did absolutely nothing and just fed me pain pills to get me by until my real doctor got back.

Saturday night around 9 pm my parents, jus, and his mom were all so sick of nothing being done that they had to say something! a very sweet nurse came into check my vitals for the first time on her shift and my parents finally unloaded all of their worries, expectations, and fears on this women! i dont actually remember this portion of the weekend due to the heavy morphine injections i was getting through my iv, but ive been told many times this is how it all went. i had an ultrasound of my pelvic region and there was a pocket of fluid that was found but my on call doctor wouldnt call in a ct scan or anything to pursue it any further! THAT WASNT OK!!!! Heather the sweet nurse came back into the room and informed my parents that she was able to get the ct scan scheduled and id be going in less than 5 minutes! WHAT A RELIEF, SOMEONE FINALLY CARED!!! the CT was painful because of them having to move me... IT HURT HORRIBLY.. but it was something we had to do! thankfully it came back ok but then what? the on call doctor decided to just put me on three different antibiotics and crazy pain meds to see if that would cure the issues.. everything seemed to be getting better on sunday as i could walk a little and get my catheder removed! we all thought i had turned the corner and would be better in no time!

Monday my dad took the day off of work to spend it with me and help me with carter in the hospital while jus went home and got sleep for a while! it was such a relief to have my dad there and an advocate for me and my health while being so drugged up! Monday went pretty smoothly and we even got up for a walk on monday afternoon! It was time to go home.. even though i was still really swollen up down there! We got discharged around 9 pm monday night and my parents had dinner ready for us at our house when we got home! it still hurt to walk and move but i figured in the next few days it would become less painful and become easier to move and be helpful with carter! WAS I WRONG!!!!! That night was horrible, no sleep because of being propped up in bed, carter waking up needing to be fed and changed, and horrible pains in my groin area. around 7 am i started to have serious pain in my lower back and kidneys! i thought it was another part of recovery but after about an hour and the pain getting so intense i couldnt walk at all again i knew something wasnt right. Jus had to take carter to his first peditricians appointment so my dad had to leave a meeting at work to come and take me back to the hopsital. when my dad got to our house it took us 30 minutes from our room to the car in the drive way... not walking... shuffling my feet without a lot of success!

Once we got to the ER things started to get foggy again. THANKFULLY jus knew an ER doc and he was there that day working! we got right in and he already had orders ready for me for morphine and pain meds... it was such a blessing! they put the IV in.. missing a few times again.. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT RIGHT? well eventually they got it placed and they did a bladder ultrasound... the nurse said in a very urgent voice, "we have to get a cath placed.." i didnt know what this meant exactly but later they told my dad that i had 1900 cc urine in my bladder when youre only suppose to have about 30 cc at a time.. the urine was backing up into my kidneys and other organs! they were worried that had spread another infection into my body but my bloodwork said i was in the clear on that problem! THANK GOD!!!! I was immediately admitted and was diagnosed with cellulitis (a skin infection) and treated with a heavy anitbiotic and pain meds! I was so bummed that i had to leave my family to readmit back into the hospital, but it had to be done for all everyone to get better. I tried to pump milk for carter while staying in the hopsital away from him, but it wasnt working and i had to think about myself getting better for his sake! He had also lost almost 2 pounds because my body wasnt producing enough milk to keep him full and happy! We knew then i had to give up my idealic dream of nursing and get him food that would help him grow and thrive.. IT WAS SUCH A BUMMER AND STILL IS... but it had to be done! :(

The second stay at the hospital was lonely.. i was there all day by myself and jus would bring carter by for a few hours before he went to work. HE WAS A SUPER DAD!!!! he did everything without complaining! my parents were also a very very very HUGE help! they took the night feedings while i was gone so jus could get enough sleep to last through the day doing it by himself! WE DONT KNOW WHAT WE WOULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT THEM!!!! slowly but surely i started to feel a little better and the swelling started to go down! I was finally released on Friday after almost 10 days!

Once i got home i felt like i had been punched in the face with a brick! i had no energy for anything.. a shower took so much out of me that i would lay down and be out for hours afterwards! Again, my parents, jus's mama and justin really stepped up and helped make it easier on me! I feel like this recovery was something i never would have expected.. it was unreal painful and ridiculously long... but our beautiful baby boy is worth every tear i have ever shed.. the sleepless nights i layed awake wondering what was even happening... we made it though, and thats all we will remember about this experience in the years to come.. WE MADE IT THROUGH!!!!

And Then There Was Carter

Carter Owen Mace was born December 7th, 2011... AND MAN IT WAS A RIDE!

We were scheduled to be induced at 7 am on that crazy wednesday morning. I had to call labor and delivery at 6 am to make sure they had enough room for my induction at that time. The night before i had this HORRIBLE feeling that it would get delayed. my entire family was reassuring me and saying that its really rare for that to happen. Jus, my mom, my dad, and I all went to dinner but our first choice was closed so we had to settle for ihop! it was our last dinner as just me and justin! I barely fit into the booth and it was horribly uncomfortable so we eventually had to ask the waitress to move to a table! haha.. i was HUGE to say the least!

That night we didnt sleep.. i mean WHO WOULD! we knew our baby was coming the next day! jus stayed up all night cleaning and preparing for his sons arrival while i layed in our bed and tried to get ANY amount of sleep that i could! the hours ticked down and at 5:55 am i grabbed my phone to make sure i had the number all dialed and ready for 6 am on the dot!!! i was nervous to call, only fearing that my assumptions would be correct. I hit send and the nurse in charge answered... AND THEY COULDNT TAKE ME! they made me call back at 8:00 am, 9:30 am, and then 10:30... IT WAS EXACTLY HOW I HAD IMAGINED IT GOING! all throughout my life i have never ever obtained the quality called PATIENCE... this would happen to me to try and teach me a lesson, but it wasnt going to stop me from getting our son into this world! i was irrate.. i even spiked my phone like a football into the ground when my ob called and said i might have to wait until the following monday to actually get induced! HOW CAN YOU TELL A PREGO LADY SHE WILL HAVE HER BABY ON A CERTAIN DAY AND THEN TELL HER IT PROBABLY WONT HAPPEN! i think anyone would have lost it at that point. Well i got a call back from labor and delivery around 11:15 am and said that i needed to hurry down to triage to get admitted before any other pregnant lady who was already in labor did! needless to say WE WERE BOOKING IT! my mom and justin didnt know what hit them after i got that phone call! we sped the entire drive down to st. lukes and got there in time to be admitted!

I was taken to room 2407 which happened to be the room my very good friend had delivered her son in less than a month ago! IT WAS FATE! well the nurse came in and informed me she had a intern student with her and asked if i minded if he placed my iv... WELL I DIDNT KNOW THIS INTERN NAMED RAJ WAS BRAND NEW AND TERRIBLE AT PLACING IV's... he missed 4 times and the nurse finally helped him place the 5th attempt in one of the worst places you could... ON MY HAND! dont you need those to hold your legs back when your pushing and such? it started very rocky... that should have been the first sign... hahaha well they finally got the iv placed and the pitocin started around 1:30 pm... The nurse checked me at that time and told me we were starting at a 4.5 cm dialated! WE WERE ALMOST HALFWAY!!! this was good news... the contractions werent very bad in the beginning.. i was like OMG I COULD TOTALLY DO THIS NATURALLY! i felt good enough to walk so we did a few laps around the floor and then the contractions started to really come! HOLY LORD THE PAIN WAS INCREDIBLY TERRIBLE!! i was in the jacuzzi when they got so bad that i couldnt handle it and i was very ready for the epidural.. THANK THE LORD I WAS ABLE TO GET IT RIGHT THEN! the epidural wasnt that bad... but it was the contractions and the shakes i was having while getting the epidural placed that made it uncomfortable!!!! once it was placed i could relax and enjoy the experience with my family! i was talking and laughing through the contractions which were lasting over a few minutes and were off the charts high! it was such a relief, LET ME TELL YOU! hahaha

After about a half an hour of constant contractions but very minimal pain my doctor came in and broke my water! i was at a solid 6 which was good progression but i was ready to get the show on the road! about 45 minutes after my water broke my nurse checked me again and WE WERE READY! she was shocked it happened so fast! she was sure she wasnt going to be there for delivery since her shift ended at 7 pm and she thought there was no way i was going to be ready by that time seeing as i was induced in the afternoon!! well... she was wrong! i was ready and so was carter! he was +2 engaged and not handling the birth canal very well! i maybe pushed 4-5 times and she was ready to call the doctor to come! well our doctor showed up and it was go time! i found it hard to know the feeling to push because i was numb everywhere below my boobs! i was asked to pull my legs back and push down.. i wanted my mom and jus to help hold my legs back but they werent really allowed.. so it was a funny ordeal to see me pushing and holding my dead weight legs at the same time! well carter was sitting under the pelvic bone and wasnt handling the pushing and contractions very well so our doctor decided she needed to use the vaccum to get him out sooner than later! the vaccum really helped and carter was out within 2 minutes! OMG WE DID IT :) he was soooo loud, so healthy... EVERYTHING WE COULD HAVE EVER HOPED FOR! he has all of his toes and fingers... we are BLESSED!!!!!! Jus was so overwhelmed with happiness and my mom was snapping as many pictures as she could for us... it was pure bliss! i had to get snipped a little bit because of our sons large head, so as i was getting stitched up jus was over with carter watching him get cleaned up and weighed! the labor and delivery all together took under 5 hours... I SHOULD HAVE TONS OF KIDS WITH HOW AMAZING THIS DELIVERY WENT RIGHT????? think again....

To The Two Men In My Life....

To my Husband,

Life with you has been something i dreamed of as a child. In my teenage years i would find myself imagining who and when i would get married and have babies. I'd wonder what my husband would look like, what kind of realtionship he'd have with my family, the life we would live together... where we would call home to how many babies we would bring into this beautiful world. I can honestly say that when i pictured my husband, i saw a figure but the features were blurry... now when i close my eyes and think about what i want in a husband i see you so clearly its remarkable... You give me so much strength in ways i never thought possible. You have been the biggest support system since the day we met.. you love me UNCONDITIONALLY.. and you always have a way to tell me how much i mean to you without saying anything!!! It could be a simple look or the way my hand fits in yours that makes home wherever you are!!! As we get closer to the day were blessed with meeting our beautiful son, i am so confident in the fact that you will be the absolute BEST FATHER IN THE WORLD... how do i know this? i see it all the time..

Carter and I are so very blessed to have such a beautiful human being in our lives.. you light up the room anywhere you go, and theres such a presense about you... I know i look up to you, the way you can give without EVER taking.. the amount of love you have for everyone in your life.. your ability to bring a smile to anyones face no matter the circumstances.. and lastly the true and meaningful relationships you create for yourself.. I truly look at you and know God is good.. I pray our son has your wit and your ability to spread so much joy without trying!!!!

I LOVE YOU JUSTIN STEPHEN MACE.. FOREVER.. and FOR ALWAYS!!!!





To my beautiful miracle,



A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for...

When i think of you, one word keeps popping into my head, MIRACLE.. you were created out of love, and with you, our ability to love is taken to a level i never knew was humanly possible. I constantly worry about your safety and your tucked away in my belly. Your movements give reassurement that only I can understand completely... I hear music about the love a parent has for their children and until you, i couldnt fathom a love existing at that level. You give me and your father everything, and you havent even taken your first breath yet. You must always know that your mommy loves you more than she can ever explain in words. God created you especially for us, and we cherish everything you are. In a few days we will meet for the first time, trust me when i tell you daddy and i have ran this moment through our heads for the last 10 months... Weve imagined your first cry, your beautiful eyes, if you have hair like daddy or if youre going to bald like mama, and how many peoples breathes youre going to take away from your sheer beauty... It may be a little scary coming into this world, but rest assured i wont let ANYTHING or ANYONE ever hurt you... Ill see you in four short days son, and from there, the future is ours!!!!

I love you to the moon and back.. ALWAYS..

Last Month Update!!!

As we get closer to baby carter's due date, we all get more and more anxious! We were so looking forward to going to the doctor every week to see the progression but holy moley i never expected 4 weeks to seem like a lifetime! at our 36 week appointment i was 1.5 cm dialated and 50% effaced which our doctor was really happy with! she said its a good starting point for delivering on time or a little early. Let me tell you.. WE WERE STOKED ABOUT THIS!!! Its been sooooo hard waiting and dealing with the extreme anticipation of meeting our lil munchkin! I know all first time parents would agree that wondering what and who your child looks like is something that crosses your mind multiple times each day! I know me and Justin have had multiple conversations about size and how labor will go!!! He SWORE that we were going to have a big boy, but i honestly thought he'd stay in the 7 lbs range.

Our 37 week appointment was a little different because our doctor was out of town for thanksgiving in southern california and we had to see another doctor in the office. I have ONLY had a female doctor since going to my gyno and my obgyn so the fact that he was a MALE was a little freaky. I was contemplating waiting an extra week to see my original doctor for my silly convience but the anticipation again was the driving factor of me agreeing to seeing a male. I wanted to know if i had progressed at all and if i was negative for my group b strep test! well to be honest, HE WAS INCREDIBLE! he made me and justin feel so comfortable even though hed never met us before and didnt have a personal relationship built with us! I was pleasantly surprised! he was an older male and his nurse was so sweet as well! he was willing to do a cervical check and i was now 2.5 cm dialated and 60% effaced! MORE PROGRESS!!! it was such a good gift that we had a chance to know before the long holiday weekend. We spent that whole weekend with my parents (my dad actually had hernia surgery wednesday afternoon so the fact that he was recovering made our thanksgiving really mellow which i was so happy about!) I did make a dumb decision and decided to attempt black friday shopping with my mama and hubby. We left on thanksgiving night at like 9:30 for walmart. BAD IDEA! people were acting a fool... to say the least! i saw fights over 10$ picture frames, 20$ microfiber stools, and 150$ xboxes... I WAS SHOCKED... i couldnt imagine hurdling others and being mean in order to get the best "deal"... which when we were leaving the store from frustration there were still piles of furniture and frames but people couldnt be patient and wait for others.. they had to have it RIGHT THEN... This lady actually took her cart to my 9 months belly.. lets just say we had a few words about the xmas spirit and how unreal she was acting over a picture frame... WHICH I WASNT EVEN WANTING!!!! Word to the wise... never take your prego hormones into a hot crowded black friday crowd... IT COULD LEAD TO MEAN WORDS AND FIST FIGHTS lol...

At our 38 week appointment i was MISERABLE! i had grown to the point where i have constant groin and sciatic pain. Our doctor did the usual exam and felt my tummy. She looked at me and justin and said "WOW! YOU ARE ALL BABY! HES A BIG BOY!!" i then asked her how much she thinks he weights and she was confident that he was over 8 lbs for sure. THIS WOULD EXPLAIN THE GROIN PAIN! hahaha... I had dialated to a solid 3 cm going on 4 and 75% effaced so we decided we would try a membrane sweep to see if my body was ready to deliver baby boo and then if that didnt work we would talk about inducing the following visit. Well let me tell you... SWEEPS HURT! i had to grin and wear the pain which seemed like it would never end! haha THIS MADE ME REALIZE AN EPIDURAL WAS NEEDED FOR LABOR!!! :) Our doctor was wrapping up the appointment when she realized she would only be in the office and able to deliver our baby next wednesday so we decided we would set my induction date for Wednesday, December 7th... and if baby made his apperance before then well all was good! :) We left JACKED!!! we couldnt believe that within a week we would be holding our baby boy for sure.. THERE WAS FINALLY A COUNTDOWN DATE THAT WAS COMPLETELY ACCURATE! it made all the anticipation so much more real!!!!

After we got home from my sweep we took a walk hoping it would kick in active labor contractions and we could have our baby THAT day! i had strong almost painful cramping and contractions but they eventually subsided around 3 pm and i was able to take a nap.. i had been told a sweep could take a few days to work though so i still had faith he could be coming soon! When i woke up from my nap around 4pm i used the restroom and my mucus plug was def coming out! it was nasty but SUCH a good sign he could come soon!! I decided to relax the rest of the night and see if my body was ready. Well my hopes were very dashed because NOTHING happened.. i slept that night and woke up without any contractions or pain! DANG!!!! But it was ok because he was def going to be here within the next week so we could be patient for ONE more week right!? youd think so but man i was ready! I WANTED TO FEEL THE PAIN OF LABOR.. I WAS SOOOO GEARED UP!

Its been 4 days now since my sweep so im fairly sure that it didnt work, which means baby wasnt ready! im so glad hes still in my belly and growing even stronger! i feel absolutely HUGE but i did find leggings that fit and i could wear them rather than SWEATS! it was a huge accomplishment! :) i didnt feel as frumpy!!! OH AND I GOT TO PULL OUT THE UGGS!!!!! gotta love december!!! We are patiently waiting his arrival but im fairly sure he will be stubborn and it will take me being induced for him to want to leave his warm tropical vacation in mamas belly! :) Both mine and justin's parents are SO excited they can barely stand it! It feels so good to have such support when me and justin are getting a little nervous for the entire responsibilty! Dont get me wrong, were soooooo ready.. but we realized that this is our LAST weekend without a baby and the ability to sleep in!! crazy since weve never had to be responsible for more than our year old puppy, but we couldnt have asked for a better blessing and gift..

This is one of the last prego pictures ill probably take! as you can see the leggings are WAY better than my husbands sweats!!!! :) and my favorite UGGS!!!! OHHHH YEA!!!

WISH US LUCK GUYS... 4 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!!!!!!

Pregnancy Update

I am almost 8 months pregnant.. i know crazy how fast time goes. I feel like this pregnancy has flown by without many issues.. (SO THANKFUL) But it also feels like as i get bigger and closer to my due date its slowing to a stop! Carter is getting so big, i feel his hiccups almost everyday now! He moves so much and is getting SO powerful with his punches and kicks! He is such a chill baby in comparison to stories ive heard about my friends babies in the womb. If i put any pressure on my belly he usually moves away from it and settles somewhere else rather than getting antsy or mad at the random pushes from me!

Carter LOVES his daddy. Jus will lay close to my belly and talk to him and he goes crazy! he'll move so much ill have to call it a night because hes kicking my ribs and then a few seconds later hes punching my hip bone! it hurts so bad but i love it and wouldnt trade that feeling for anything in the world! Its so amazing to know he is a living being that can respond to stimuli from the outside such as touches from me or daddy or light from our phones. HE IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BLESSING TO EVERYONE IN OUR LIFE!!! Both justins and my parents are counting the days until they meet him for the first time!!!

As much as I love my son, MY BODY HURTS!!! there are a few things that have gotten me through up until this point! a few of them are...

APPLES AND PEANUT BUTTER.. my biggest craving... and OMG if i go a day without my dear apples and peanut butter i feel like i might lose it! :)

My beloved body pillow.. its way nicer than this one in the picture, but for entertainment value i chose this because she looks like she is VERY rested.. haha! my one and only is black and soooo incredibly soft. If i get out of bed to use the restroom at night it never fails that when i come back jus is wrapped up in it! hahaha.. its safe to say he loves it just as much as i do!

Frozen yogurt.. my favorite place to get this is now USwirl.. i usually get a full cup of cake batter frozen yogurt with either berries or the a chocolate overload with reeces and kit kat chunks! It quenches the sweet tooth that helps contributes to my weight gain! haha

My best friend, the heating pad!!! Ive had pretty intense lower back pain since around 24 weeks so i use a heating pad more than once a day! Jus also learned some techniques in our birthing class that help to relieve the pain i have in my sciatic nerve! Im so thankful for modern technology!

My brother recently got married, and between traveling to moscow for U of I games, and portland for the wedding i have been SO exhausted! This picture is of me at 27 weeks at my brothers wedding!

AND THIS IS MY INCREDIBLE HUSBAND.. our good friend ashley has a beautiful baby girl that justin absolutely adores! This picture is of jus at a Vandals game holding kyah in her carseat and her diaper bag. HE LOOKS SOOO HUNKY! he is so excited to meet his son, and get to be a daddy! He makes me smile everyday knowing how incredible he is going to be as a husband and a daddy!!!

This pregnancy has hard times intertwined with AMAZING ones... it has been all smiles and roses and sunshine, but i wouldnt trade our experience for the world. I have made it through with the support from my wonderful husband and his never ending support, my incredible parents and mother in law, and my girl friends who have given me their extra baby clothes and advice!!!

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!!! 70 DAYS UNTIL DUE DATE.. 49 UNTIL FULL TERM!!!!