Sweet Sunshine: Third Trimester Recap

We are nearing the end of the third trimester and counting down the days until we get to meet our sweet boy! We are almost at 37 weeks and know these last few weeks will involve a lot of patience on our part as we wait for him to arrive, and of course last minute preparations. Here is a recap of some highlights of the third trimester up to now:

• We were so excited when Tim won some Colts tickets from a work raffle! The last time we were at a Colts game was last December, very recently after my second surgery. I was not super mobile and was very uncomfortable due to my swollen belly, incisions, and all that came with being post surgery. This time I was a little less mobile and uncomfortable and my belly was much more swollen for a better reason...due to our sweet guy! I definitely think he enjoyed the game - he was very active the entire time, somersaulting, kicking, and jumping around the entire time! How could he not? We were lucky enough to be in the 9th row at almost the 50 yard line - the best seats we have ever had. While we were there we saw a couple father/son duos and sweet families enjoying the game - how we look forward to our own chance to take this boy to a Colts game some day. 

• Mama's belly grew and we think our sweet girl grew in her love for this boy as well. She is constantly by her mama's side and loves nothing (well, she might love food more) more than snuggling up to mama's belly. 

• We celebrated our sweet boy at 3 more showers! How blessed are we to be surrounded by so many people who love on us and this sweet boy so well? My family threw a shower on the west side of the city that was "camping" themed. My Aunt Renata and cousin Nicole did all of the decor and they outdid themselves - everything was so adorable and well thought out. My aunts and mom also pitched together to do a taco bar and it was delicious! 

Our next shower was thrown by Tim's family and was "You are my sunshine" themed. They had the sweetest banners and adorable decor as well. The cake was also too precious (and delicious!)! 

Our last shower was thrown by our small group and it was so wonderful to celebrate our boy with the sweet women in our group!

We loved getting to cherish this time of waiting and anticipation with so many friends and family and are so excited for him to meet everyone, many of whom prayed fervently for him to join us. 

• We had our 32 week ultrasound and got to see our sweet boy in 3D! We got a couple sweet facial profiles and continue to look at them and compare who we think he looks the most like. We commented to the tech he had gotten the hiccups a lot lately and she noted that his toes were by his face and he may have been sucking on them - Tim said he might be more flexible than his daddy if that's the case. We also got to see a sweet dimple on his right cheek - same as his mama! 

Sweet boy 

Got a dimple just like his mama!

Look at those sweet toes up by his face!

• Tim and I had to cancel our anniversary trip back in August due to expected flooding in the Gatlinburg area...but we decided to reschedule it as a late honeymoon and baby moon trip in September. We decided to camp within the park at the Elmont Campground, which came highly recommended. Unfortunately, we ended up having quite a lot of rain still on this trip. We also stayed in a primitive campground - which was more of a feat as pregnant as I was than I thought it would be..and so we ended up mostly doing easier things versus heavy hiking. I was very excited to get back to electricity (and a shower!) at the end of the week. We explored Cades Cove (a couple times), drove through the park to Newfound Gap and Clingman's Dome, explored downtown Gatlinburg, and even went into Pigeon Forge to explore the Titanic Museum and for dinner one night. We kept saying how we can't wait to bring our guy to the Smokies one day, as it is one of our favorite places to visit. 

Outside the Titanic Museum

Walking around Newfound Gap

Downtown Gatlinburg

Cades Cove

• We were lucky enough to have my sister-in-law take our maternity pictures for us while she was here. She did a wonderful job capturing our joy for this sweet life and even helped us include Ali in a few pictures. How thankful we are to have her to capture this journey for our family and all our big life moments. 

• Every year we try to take a trip to Beasley's in Danville to pick out our pumpkins and enjoy their fall festival. This year we kept us the tradition - and had some fun painting our pumpkin to match mama's belly once we got it home!

• Our poor Ali girl has a history of bad allergies and ear infections. While we have been able to avoid them for awhile, we unfortunately had to take her in due to another one cropping up (and giving her a bad hot spot on her head). We had to take her into the vet, where she got an allergy shot, had to have her head shaved, and was put on an oral and topical antibiotic regimen to treat her double ear infection and the hot spot. Though her hot spot has resolved, we are still fighting ear infections...but hopeful they will resolve before our boy arrives. We're also praying our sweet girl doesn't continue to need allergy shots.

Poor girl hiding out after they shaved her head 

• Mama has been busy with lots of crafting - both for our guy and others - as we wait for him to arrive. My goal has been to finish most of my Etsy/craft orders well prior to our guys arrival...just in case. I also moved into a consignment shop booth that I am sharing with other family members and am excited to see how it goes! This was no easy feat being very pregnant but also very exciting (and perfect timing to get it done before he arrives!). 

"Cousin crew" shirts

Black Friday Shirts

Disney Holiday Shirts - Minnie

Disney Holiday Shirts - Mickey

Sweet baby onesies

Custom cups

Company Cups

All set up at Room Swap

• These last few weeks have involved lots of time wrapping up our pre-baby "to do lists". We have been focused on finishing the nursery as well as wrapping up other last minute items like birth classes, packing our bags, and installing car seats. While we have almost checked most of our items off our list and mostly finished our nursery, we still have yet a bit to do. Mama's nesting instincts are strong right now though and that means she is pushing to finish them and welcome our guy asap...hopefully our boy thinks he wants to come sooner rather than later as well :) Our nursery has quickly become one of ours (and Ali's) favorite spots! While we didn't pick one theme, we incorporated a few of our favorite things...so there are touches of "You are my sunshine", camping, travel, Disney, faith, etc. throughout the nursery. Tim and my dad also added this awesome accent wall and we had someone install an overhead light/fan (our house is old enough this wasn't in there).

Nursery - crib and nursery chair

His quilt was handmade from his Grandma Mosier and has fabrics that mimic some of the things we tried to include in his nursery!

Changing table/dresser and collage wall

Toy baskets - the "tool box" underneath was built by his daddy when he was young and mama repainted it

Sweet Disney touches - of course!

This paddle came from my parents' first boat - eventually his name will go above it!

Up close of our collage wall 

Bookshelves (dad built and I sewed) and closet

Baby's hospital bag is ready to go! And his blanket I made

"You are my sunshine" hand made mobile

"Love" Poem written by my Grandma Graves - of course had to be part of his collage wall

So now we spend our spare time finishing these items and anxiously awaiting for our boy to join us! Counting down the days until we see your sweet face, my love. Oh, how we love you so.

Prayer requests:

• Safe delivery and healthy baby
• Mama's hips and headaches - still waxing and waning but at times can be rough
• For our sweet boy to continue to grow strong and healthy until we meet

Sweet Sunshine: Second Trimester

We are officially finished with the second trimester and heading into the third (wow!). The days seem to go slow, but the weeks are passing by quickly. Here is a quick recap of some highlights of our second trimester:

• Baby went on another couple camping trips! Mama is still keeping up pretty well as long as the nausea and headaches are at bay. We went to Indiana Dunes with some friends around the beginning of second trimester. Unfortunately, we got rained out most of the time. However, we did get some dry weather for a bit and the company was wonderful rain or shine! At about 17.5 weeks, we also went to Brown County State Park with Tim's parents, brother, and his brother's girlfriend. We enjoyed hiking, exploring the park, and exploring downtown Nashville. Other places we have been this summer include: Spring Mill State Park and Turkey Run State Park...and we are preparing for a trip to Gatlinburg in a few weeks as a belated anniversary trip and baby moon.

Brown County - 17 Weeks

Turkey Run

Turkey Run

• Fathers Day: We were so thankful to celebrate Fathers Day this year! For my dad, we got him a "Grandpa & me" picture frame and I made a onesie that said "Papa's boating buddy". For Tim's dad, we got him the book Grandpa and Me and I made a onesie that says "Pappy's camping buddy". Since his birthday was nearby, we also got him a Moose baby outfit and the book "If you give a moose a muffin" since his nickname was Moose in college. I went a little overboard on Tim...I got him a ton of baby books I knew he'd like reading to baby, + a "Daddy's Playbook" book to read up before baby comes + I made a ton of funny onesies I knew he'd love. 

Tim's Father's Day gifts

Funny Onesies

All the books

• Brownsburg Shower: Around 17 weeks, the staff at Brownsburg was sweet enough to host our first shower for us! They did a wonderful job and we were honored that they took the time and put in so much effort to shower our guy. 

• Nursery Prep: We have been full steam ahead on getting baby boy's nursery done and are almost there! I was so excited to get my hands on his nursery and get started, as I love to decorate. Rather than going with one central "theme" I wanted something that would grow with him and would combine a few of our favorite things that we hope will be his favorite things. We have touches of "You are my sunshine" items (including his mobile that I just finished), camping (including a vintage map of the Indiana Dunes State Park), bible verses, adventure, Disney, and lakes/fishing. We also included a framed copy of one of my grandma's poems about love, which was really special to us. We left the walls the light blue they already were but Tim and my dad added an accent wall of siding painted a darker blue/navy. We still have a few things to finish in there - adding his name above his bed and a paddle from my parents first boat, putting up a ceiling fan/overhead light, etc. but his room is already one of our favorite rooms in the house. We can't wait to see him in it! Here are some sneak peaks. 

All finished setting up the crib! Fun fact - this crib is the same style both our mama's had for us, only theirs were stained

"You are my sunshine" mobile - it even plays the song!

Collage wall

Disney poem

Closets and hamper

Bookshelves

Accent wall - done! Just need name and paddle put up

Our sweet girls favorite spot to hang out - she can't wait for her brother!

• Anatomy scan: At 19 weeks we got our anatomy scan. I had some anxiety leading up to this - just nervous for everything to be alright. We were ecstatic to hear the doctor say our boy is looking perfect to her! Although to us we already knew he was perfect in every way :) He was on the move the entire time they did the ultrasound so they had a hard time getting good pictures, but we did get a pretty cute shot of his face and some shots of his hands and feet. He really loved keeping his hands up by his face during the ultrasound. 

Anatomy scan profile picture

• Branson Vacation: Around 20 weeks we took a trip with my family to Branson, Missouri. My family has gone to Branson quite a bit growing up and we always look forward to it. It was extremely hot while we were there (95-105 during the day) so we spent most of our time in the water (either on Table Rock Lake or at the pool at the resort). I also unfortunately got the stomach flu during this trip - not fun! Mama was definitely feeling pregnant and struggling to breathe for lots of this trip. We also went to Promised Land Zoo, downtown Branson, Branson Landing, and the National Aquarium. We loved watching Kinsie and Brax interact with everyone and everything this trip and can't wait for our guy to join his cousins in the fun!

National Aquarium

This sweet boy is growing as is his mama's belly!

20 weeks at Branson Landing

• Masey and Austin's wedding: Right around 25 weeks, my sweet cousin Masey got married! It was a beautiful (and very busy) day! I helped a lot with coordinating (which I loved!) but I may hold off pursuing that as a career or helping anyone else with it again until after our guy arrives :) She looked beautiful and we had the best time celebrating her and Austin!

My sweet guy(s)

Love these two so much!

The sweetest bride

That Graves family 💗

Nate and I 

Nicole and I 

• Spotting scares: We had a few scares toward the end of this trimester with spotting. It was very minimal and we told hardly anyone about it - partly because I am hormonal and knew I would just get too emotional if I had too many people talk to me about it. We have had a NST and baby looks wonderful so we are just doing our best to make sure I take it easy and praying our guys continues to "cook" (as Tim says) safely for a few more months before he makes his arrival. 

• Colts game: We were lucky enough to win some Colts tickets from Tim's work in August! The last time we went to a Colts game was last December on New Years (just 3 days after my second surgery, ouch!). My belly was still swollen from surgery so it was a little hard to get comfortable but we loved getting to go and getting that special time together - we had never been to a game together before! We were even more excited to get to go again this year - this time with my belly swollen because of our little miracle. Our guy must've loved the game because he was doing somersaults, kicks, and flips through the whole game! Normally he is pretty chill but he has his moments where he gets really excited about something and this was one of them! Maybe we have a future football player and/or Colts fan on our hands? 

Our awesome seats - 9th row! We aren't sure if we'll ever get to sit that close again so we soaked it up!

• Anxiously awaiting our guys arrival: We have been in full nesting mode in our household, from crafting for our guy (quilts, blankets, soft books, "family" blocks, onesies, etc.) to getting him his first stuffed animal (an Ali dog, of course!) to soaking in the snuggles as our sweet pup prepares for her sibling to arrive. We are looking forward to finishing our third trimester strong, celebrating with family and friends at our last few baby showers, and finalizing our birth classes and other "to-do" list items before he arrives. 

The sweetest 

Baby's first stuffed animal - Ali!

Right after this our guy gave Ali a slight kick and she looked a little shocked

As we close out our second trimester, we continue to pray daily that this babe would grow strong and healthy and most of all that he would grow in his knowledge of just how much he is loved by not only us, but most importantly by his heavenly father. Oh how we can't wait to meet you, sweet soul!

If you feel inclined to pray for us/baby, we'd appreciate prayers for:

• Mama's hips and headaches - I still have struggled with headaches daily for the most part this pregnancy and have some bursitis in my hips, making sleep a serious struggle (just getting me ready for baby, right?)
• Peace regarding baby's safety and that he'll continue to grow strong and healthy
• That God would prepare our hearts to best care for this sweet guy and raise him in His ways

We love y'all and can't wait for you to meet our boy!