New Toys = Finished Rooms

J has been hard at work preparing a room for this little one to be. Or at least a really nice place to put all its stuff... We are starting to feel a little more ready for whenever baby decides to arrive. We are so grateful to all the friends and family that have been passing things our way!

The nursery started here...

And then we got one of these

And suddenly...

We had this!

Another one (month) bites the dust

Oh boy, the months are flying by... I have tried to post twice, but my login for school messes up my login here sometimes and I am not savvy enough to figure out what to do other than go away and try again next time.

In June, we took our last pre-baby plane trip. To start, we spent about 5 days in Tucson, AZ with Jeremy's sister (Michelle), her husband (Jason), and kids. Luckily they had a pool in which to float Baby Beluga. We had a great time hanging out and getting in some good visiting. Michelle and I had some great girl time getting mani/pedies, dinner and a movie. Which meant Uncle JJ got to spend some quality time with his niece and nephew. He even put on a diaper! I suppose it's a little different when the diperee is taking off is own diaper, but it's a start.

After Tucson time we headed out to Albuquerque with Michelle and the kids for Jeremy's cousin's wedding. It was the hottest I've ever seen it in Albuquerque, in the 100s, but the wedding was beautiful and it was fun to hang out with all of Jeremy's extended family. Of course, we don't have a single picture from the trip... we have got to get better about using our camera. I'm actually a bit sad that we missed out on this opportunity.

Since returning home I took my last written test for grad school and scheduled my oral defense for the end of July. Yikes! Time to get going a little more seriously on that. Just two more classes for finish up after that! Jeremy has been working hard, for the guard, as well as, cleaning up/out our little home. He's had his work cut out for him, but has stepped up to take it on.

Finally, we took a quick trip to up to the Copper Princess Lodge with Martha and John over the Fourth of July weekend. We geared up and headed out for some dip-netting one day. After a few hours of me, very usefully, sitting on the bank, we discovered that the river was running a bit to high for catching. We weighed all our options, rounded up the wild beasts (dogs, not the boys) and headed back to the lodge for margaritas and Shirley Temples on the sunny deck. While our dreams of a freezer of fish were dashed, we did have a nice little vacation. Pictures of that will have to be another post since I can't get the camera to download on my computer...

29 Weeks

Annie's tough day...

Baby's room getting emptier

You know you are pregnant when...

- People start giving you that look when you are out. I'm pretty sure most people are thinking this is more than a beer belly now.

- Your husband has to "survive" birth classes.

- Your friend has to take you last minute shopping for a new swimsuit.

- You are tired EVERY afternoon.

- You have to roll over every hour while you sleep, that is when you aren't getting up to go to the bathroom.... again!

- You cry completely randomly, at least once. Like when you see a sad, lost baby moose. They make really pathetic noises.

- You close your belly in the freezer door.... or the bathroom stall door... Sorry Baby!

- You look like this...

24 weeks 5 days

26 weeks 5 days

Same toilet, new bathroom

J has been hard at work updating our small, weird bathroom. A couple weeks showering at my parents house, a few extra trips to Lowe's, and a month of hard work has the bathroom looking much improved! We are 85% there, and since we are opposed to doing finishing work in this house, this might be good enough for us.

Kayaking

Over Memorial Day weekend Tiffany, James, and their friend Will came up to Anchorage for a wedding. While there were here it was gorgeous, for the whole holiday weekend! By Tiffany's request we went sea kayaking out of Whittier. Prince William Sound like I'd never seen it, great trip!

Traffic Jam

The bellies

The belly goes kayaking

Where did that come from?

Okay, so everyone wants to see belly pics. I definitely stalk all my pregnant friends pages looking for them, but have not felt that to be a good enough reason to overcome laziness and post my own. So today is the day. Though I've discovered I don't really have that many. I think the fact that I didn't look pregnant for a long time, mostly just chubby, didn't really provide the motivation to take pictures. Plus, I always want to take them on the day that starts my pregnancy week, which mostly means two days after that I remember and decide to wait until the next week... The other issue could be that with the construction on the bathroom we don't have any mirrors in the house in which I can see anything lower than my shoulders. Looking down I don't feel like there is much bump. However, when we went to Humpy's to meet some friends for dinner the other night they had a full length mirror. As I stood there, waiting for my turn in the turned out to be empty stall, I was a little surprised that I looked like I might be pregnant. Short story long, tonight I pulled out the real camera (not attached to my phone) and took a picture at 22 weeks and 3 days so I could get the ball rolling.

11 weeks

Post surgery 15 weeks 4 days

18 weeks First day of maternity pants 20 weeks

Heart Run 21 weeks

22 weeks 3 days

Take 2

Okay, I tried a massive update last week and the pictures wouldn't post right... so I deleted it all and moved on to other tasks... Guess this time I'll start smaller. Annie announced the news that she will have her first "sibling" in September. I don't think she knows what is coming, but I'm sure it'll make her all sorts of nervous once it gets here. She feels the need to be responsible around babies, but is not fond of the noise or things that poop in the house.

Here are some pictures of the baby at about 18 weeks. We don't know the gender, and don't plan to find out until the birth. So few real surprises these days, we figured this would be a big one.