9 weeks to go!

Hard to imagine that tomorrow, I will only have 9 weeks until we get to meet this little bundle of joy! Dan and I were just talking about how quickly this is all going - it's so ridiculous to me that we are already in the final weeks of my first pregnancy.  We were trying to figure out why it seems to have all gone so fast and realized that we can only be thankful that it's all gone SO smoothly!

I was able to enjoy a relaxing 4 day break for Thanksgiving. It's funny how every chance I have to sleep in or lounge around seems to be much needed these days.  I feel so lazy, but it's been really nice enjoying the warmth of our home wrapped up in a blanket on these cold MN days...
Thanksgiving was wonderful, though I'm not sure I indulged nearly as much as I had anticipated.  I tend to get full a little quicker than I did even a few weeks ago -- I usually just end up 'feeding' more frequently in smaller portions.  This year we decided to spend Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom & step-dad Corrie in White Bear Lake.  We didn't have to be to their house until 3pm, so we ended up stopping by Dan's Aunt & Uncle's house to say hi before heading to WBL-- everyone was excited to see Dan, since they weren't expecting us at all.  On Saturday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a nice soup lunch at Dan's Aunt & Uncle's house on his Dad's side.  It was great to see everyone again - and spend some time catching up with Dan's cousin Hank, who is back from Thailand after 6 years.
We came home from the festivities to set up the Christmas tree! I always love this time of year - even though people say Thanksgiving doesn't get enough time, I say bring on Christmas! I love walking into the living room with the glow of the Christmas lights.  It already makes me so excited for Baby Girl Powers to be a part of the fun next year!

I had another Dr. Appointment yesterday and everything checked out perfectly!  This little girl just keeps growing perfectly on pace.  We heard the heartbeat again yesterday -- a little slower than before at 122.  The Dr. said everything sounds and looks great though! I'll have my next appointment in 2 weeks to make sure she's still progressing.  We're just so thankful that she's in good health with no concerns!

I'm excited to finish up Christmas shopping and get ready for my next shower on Saturday.

week 30 update! countdown begins...

I'm officially 30 weeks pregnant (today)!
People say this is the point that you can start the countdown to Baby's arrival.  I'm not sure I'm ready to start that process yet - it really feels like this whole pregnancy has gone so quickly! It seems odd to already start the count DOWN to her arrival -- especially since everyone also says that these last 10 weeks go so slowly.

Instead, I'll just give you an update on what's been happening.  We finally made some progress on the Nursery -- emptied out the 2 desks and one large bookshelf.  There are still a couple of office remnants at this point, but it's much more cleared out - feeling more like a Baby's room than a command center (for those of you who saw what Dan had set up previously).  We also were able to get the crib and changing table assembled which is exciting!

On top of all of this progress excitement at home, I was blessed by another wonderful shower on Saturday, Nov. 20th hosted by my Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law in Elk River! It was a great day of celebrating with Dan's Aunts and Cousins. 

The next day, we had our 5th Annual DUPI Thanksgiving -- the DUPI is our special family (made up of the men that Dan lived with during College and their significant others).  It was a great time and our little one's first official experience (though she only got to taste the food).  Hard to believe that next year she'll be 8 or 9 months by that time! It was so fun getting together with everyone - especially with the 3 little guys running around, already so mobile!  Hopefully next year Baby Girl Powers will be ready to get in there with the boys and play!

Here's a group shot of the DUPI ladies -- love these girls!

That's about all for now.  Excited to thoroughly ENJOY/INDULGE on this year's Thanksgiving dinner (for the baby of course) ;)
I'm sure we'll start some of our Christmas decorating with this long weekend -- fun! Hopefully we'll make some more progress on the Nursery too!  I think I'm officially into my 'nesting' phase! Ready to organize/setup/clean out!

showered with love!

First update - I passed my gestational diabetes test! Which means I do not have it --thankfully, because I'm a big of a sugar lover and happen to be into baked goods during this pregnancy :) Does wonders for my figure too I'm sure!

Today I had my first baby shower - hosted by my lovely friend and former college roomie, Kristen Tenley!  I woke up at 6:30am to see Dan and Cade off to go pheasant hunting and coudn't fall back asleep - maybe this is my body preparing me for baby to be here...usualy Saturdays are my day to sleep in and I typically take full advantage; but I really just couldn't fall back asleep.

It just so happens that our first snowfall happened last night while we were sleeping (I think it wasn't until early this AM actually) but this is about what I woke up to.
It was really a beautiful, cozy sight and made me really excited for Christmas to come!

On the other hand - I quickly realized that I would be cause for my friends to venture out in this (while the snow was still falling) and most roads were unplowed! Sorry and Thank you to everyone for making it out!! Despite the delays, it was a wonderful first shower! I feel so incredibly blessed by the love and excitement of my friends - for Dan and I and our new addition!! I cannot wait for this Baby Girl to get to know and love all of her 'Aunties' as much as I do!
*I failed to bring my camera, so thanks  for taking pics friends!

All in all, it was a great day - and as a bonus, Dan returned home just after I did with 2 pheasants from a successful hunt!


I also figure I should post a photo or two of my current belly's state of being.  I haven't been good about taking photos throughout the first 28 weeks - but I think this will at least give you an idea of what kind of growth has occurred thus far.

 

just waiting...

Well I figured I should probably update something on here - even though there's not too much news to report.
I had another Dr. appointment on Monday - got blood drawn to get tested for gestational diabetes.  I should get the results in the next day or so.  We'll see if I pass - the nurse said that she sees about half of the women pass and half "fail" the test.  If I do fail - I will have to go to the hospital for a 3 hour test! Hopefully that's not the case for me!

The Dr. said I'm measuring perfect growth - she told me that I shouldn't be worried if I'm hearing a lot of "you look too small to be 28 weeks pregnant"!  -- which just so happens to be the case.  I'm ok with it though, I guess I'd rather look smaller and know that the baby is healthy than not.  The Dr. told me that with my frame, I should expect somewhere around a 6 pound baby! That'd be great - so we'll see how accurate that is! Dan was 8.5 lbs when he was born and I think I was on the smaller side, so I think our chances are pretty good of at least having a smaller baby. 

Other than that, not too much else is new.  Dan is finally home from his hunting adventures - so now we're getting focused on home improvement projects, picking Health Insurance, a Daycare and getting ready for our baby preparation class (Dec. 11)!

I have my first Baby Shower this weekend - SO excited for it - hosted by my BFF (love you Kristen)! I'm so thankful for my friends and family and their excitement and support through this whole experience! It'll be so great to celebrate and visit with them this Saturday. Kind of crazy how real it makes this feel though - we're having a baby shower...because we're having a baby! Still sinking in...I know you'd think it would be pretty real if you saw my belly sticking out...still just kind of a surreal, but amazing blessing!

That's about all I have now - just hanging in there, waiting...letting this precious little girl grow!

3 of 3...already!?

It's kind of ironic that such an exciting event in our life was a secret for so long! It was such a relief to be able to share the news with our families.  We decided we would tell our parents and siblings on Father's Day (June 20, 2010).  Since my dad lives in Florida, we had to share the news over the phone.  I called him and after wishing him a Happy Father's Day, simply said "Guess what...we have news...you're going to be a grandpa"!  He immediately responded with a giddy "Yeah! I knew it...".  I still question whether he really knew it since he said the same exact words when I told him that Dan had proposed to me... :) But maybe a father knows better than I give him credit for.  Either way, he was, needless to say, ecstatic to hear the news and proceeded to exclaim the news to all those around him (he was at brunch with his girlfriend and my sister).  He quickly asked my sister if she already knew - to which she had to say yes (I had to tell SOMEONE when I first found out)!
It was a great feeling to hear the excitement in his voice after telling him the news and definitely made it feel more real.
Next - we had plans to meet Dan's parents, brother and sis-in-law at the Science Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.  We met up with them, walked through the exhibit and waited as Dan and Ben played with the wave machine before heading to lunch.  We decided to walk down to Cossetta's for lunch together after the Science Museum.  After finishing our meals, Ben and Jenn gave their gift to Bruce.  Then it was our turn.  Bruce took his gift bag and pulled out a onesie -- with "My Grandpa Loves Me" written across the front in puff paint.  He looked at it for a minute and said "Now all I need is a baby".  I looked at Dan and then glanced around the table.  Dan's mom, Laura looked at everyone and said "...wait, I don't get it...".  At this point, I was a little worried that the news wasn't breaking itself as easily as I thought it would. Just then, I looked at Jenn and she had tears in her eyes and said "..she's..you're...she's having a...you're having a baby"!?  To which I shook my head and everyone jumped up and hugs and tears were all around! It was a very fun, and unexpected announcement to share with the future Grandparents and Aunt & Uncle!
Since we wanted to be able to tell all of our family in one day, we had made plans to stop by my mom and step-dad's house for dessert that day.  We headed to White Bear Lake and greeted them with the normal updates.  We sat down to eat some dessert on the deck and I pulled out a card for Corrie and then a gift bag for my mom.  I know it was Father's Day - but I wanted to spring the news on my mom anyway!  She opened the bag, pulled out a onesie that said "My Grandma Loves Me" across the front - only she only pulled it out about an inch before she shoved it back in and shrieked, "Leah Dale (still calls me by my maiden name) you're..."!?  It was too funny to me how quickly she figured it out - meanwhile, Corrie was still kind of staring, confused so I told him "we're pregnant"!
It was a pretty incredible day of FINALLY revealing our secret to our families!  All of them greeted the news with such excitement that it just made us that more ecstatic about our news.  Having our family to share this secret with just made it feel more real too.


1st Trimester --
It's really kind of funny how much of pregnancy is the 'hurry up and wait' game.  That little home test confirmed the news for us so early on but I couldn't have my first Doctor's appointment until I was 8 weeks along.  So I made the appointment and anxiously waited.  We had decided that we wanted to at least wait until that appointment before we started telling anyone else (including our closest friends).  Thankfully, the first appointment went smoothly - everything was perfectly routine and best of all, the Dr. confirmed our news! If that wasn't enough, we were able to hear the little one's heartbeat!  At first, it was difficult for us to distinguish which heartbeat was mine and which was the baby's - but the Dr. was quickly able to point our the slightly more faint pulses of our the little miracle growing inside of me!
Before we knew it, we were through the first trimester! Technology allowed us to hear the heartbeat of our newest addition to the family and the Dr. confirmed our due date of February 2, 2011. So, we quickly spread the word to our families, friends and Church body in the next couple of weeks.  Of course - we were so encouraged and overjoyed by all of the celebratory responses from everyone.  Again, we just had to look at each other and realize that this was real - our news meant that we would have a little one sometime in early February!

2nd Trimester --
Our 15 week appointment went smoothly as well - and we were able to hear that little heartbeat again! It's crazy that it just doesn't get old and I just wanted to keep laying there, listening to the little being inside of me.  It was pretty fun to glance over at my husband, the Father of our child - and see him just smile when we were listening to the heartbeat...
At 19 weeks, we had our first ultrasound.  We had decided pretty early on that we would find out the gender of our little one when we were able.  This was the day we were waiting for!  Our ultrasound technician led us into a pretty dark room and I hopped up on the table.  Neither one of us had ever been part of an ultrasound - so we weren't really sure what we were looking for.  The technician started pointing out various body parts, including clarity around whether we were looking at the head or the stomach (both kind of roundish)... :) I was a little caught off guard when he started pointing out the legs of our baby and then said "Those are girl parts..." that was the news! It was nothing like they do in the movies, so I think I was a little unsure of whether he was positive about what he had just told us! In the almost the same breath he moved on and continued to point out other features of our baby "...and there's the kidney...".  That was it - simple as can be, so I glanced at Dan and he kind of smirked and we silently came to the understanding that we would celebrate after we left that room. We called our parents on the ride home announcing excitedly "It's a girl" - and there we had it, time to buy some pink, frilly stuff for that little one!

About a week later, I finally caved and purchased my first pair of maternity pants!  I was still able to wear most of my normal pants (some with the help of my BellaBand) but some of my dress pants were getting a little more uncomfortable than others. 

We decided to partake in a newer tradition (and it is real - not just an excuse to travel...well maybe a little), so we booked our flight to San Francisco, CA.  It was kind of a combo celebration for our "babymoon" and Dan's 27th birthday.  We left on his birthday (September 25) and returned home the 29th.  Neither of us had been to CA and it was an incredible time for us to escape the busyness of work and life at home.  We took in the sites, walked around the very hilly city and took a drive down to Monaco.  We couldn't have been happier with our choice and are so thankful that we were able to take that time away, just the two of us before the little one joins us.

Sometime around week 22 I started to show a little more.  Of course, I had felt like I was showing for a while - but it's a little different when you're the one with the expanding stomach I suppose...

Just a few weeks ago, we had another Dr. appointment - complete with follow-up ultrasound.  The first time around, Baby girl Powers was apparently resting peacefully on her backside, so they weren't able to see one part of her spine.  This time she was in a different position and they were able to confirm that everything looked great! Another appointment we could be thankful for - baby was growing and healthy! 

A couple of weeks ago, I started to feel like every morning when I woke up, my stomach was sticking our further and further.  Dan tried to comfort me by telling me how cute the little bump looked, but I was still feeling a little like a chubby lady instead of a pregnant lady!  It did help when some people started asking me if I was pregnant because they had suspected, instead of just double taking to see if I was just over-indulging!  Now I'm just trying to embrace the bump and show it off as much as possible - hoping to bring clarity to any curious onlookers.
I still cannot get over the perfect ending to my second trimester -news from my best friend and college roommate of 3 years, Kristen Tenley.  We met for dinner to catch up on October 13, 2010 and after about 15 minutes of catching up (probably me blabbing about nothing)....she gave me wonderful news "..so speaking of babies..."! and then that smile! I jumped up and gave her a huge hug and couldn't stop saying oh my goodness - I'm SOO happy! Even while I'm typing this, I can't help but smile and think how excited I am for her and her hubby!  It couldn't be more perfect.  I went home and told Dan the news and said "This is so perfect, it's just like the movies - when your best friend is pregnant at the same time..."!  It's so exciting to think that just a few short months after our little girl arrives, she'll have a new best friend or maybe future boyfriend!! I know - don't worry, I'm not really planning our daughter's future yet....well trying not to.  It's just so exciting to think of the play dates and memories to be made! :)

That brings us to now - week 27...officially in the 3rd trimester.  Can't wait to see all of the developments, preparation and fun to come!

dan and leah + 1...infant

well for those of you that know us...we've already been a family of 3 for almost three years -- if you count our dog Cade...which we do.  all you have to do is peek into our living room window any night of the week and you'll see how much he's a part of our family (while he lays across the couch snoring) :) it's endearing, trust me!

on may 28th, 2010 a test (well, technically 4) confirmed that Dan and I would soon be parents!! I took the test that morning before work and proceeded to leave it on the bathroom counter while I jumped in the shower.  In the meantime, Dan came into the bathroom, stood perfectly still for about 2 minutes and politely asked, "...what is this?".  I responded with a smirk on my face saying "..well, it says we are having a baby!".  While I was extremely excited at the result on the test, I still wasn't 100% sure that it was accurate and wanted to take the chance to take another test (or a few more) to confirm.  I didn't want to get either of us too excited before we knew for sure.  In the next day, I took the other 3 tests to confirm - and sure enough, all of them came back the same -- we could expect a little baby in about 9 months.

the weeks that followed were filled with a secret celebration -- that just Dan and I were able to share together (which was kind of fun on its own)! I think both of us were still in shock that God's plan was for us to start adding to our family....now.  The funny thing is that just a couple of months before, I had decided to go back to school to get my MBA at St. Cloud State University.  I had been in communication with the Director at SCSU and she had jut alerted me of an opening in the March 2010 cohort - meaning I could complete the program by early 2012.  I jumped at the chance to start, since this had always been something on my to-do list.  It just goes to show that you can try to plan every second of your life -- and you still can't predict what will happen tomorrow.  I have definitely been humbled by the clarity God gave me to quit school for now - knowing that I wouldn't be able to finish the program before the baby came - and focus on work and preparing for our first child.  I have felt nothing but peace about that decision to hold off on my schooling and am so thankful for God's bigger plan for our family!