36 Weeks

Hoping not to unwrap this gift until the New Year!

35 Weeks

Closing in on the final month.  We're busy continuing to get things ready at home.  My final day of work is set for 1/4/13...hopefully baby doesn't come too late!  I want as much of those three months of maternity leave as possible with him/her :)

Thank you Shannon for braving the weather and taking some memorable pregnancy shots!

33 Weeks

Nursery construction has begun!  Leading up to this past weekend, Rob painted the nursery and removed some hideous glass block which the previous home owners had installed to let more light into the room.  Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Rob and my dad built new custom framed-out windows that look way better - this is the view from the hallway.

Yummy Thanksgiving feast with family.

30 Weeks

Ours wasn't the only baby in the bar!  On Sundays, Ryan's Sports Bar & Grill is always full of babies and kids sporting their team colors, cheering alongside their parents.  Oh, and it's known as the local "Packer Bar"!  Our little one is going to fit right in.  :)

Yay! The crawlspace is finished!  Rob did an awesome job transforming a dirt pile and exposed insulation into this cool space-age room.  It was all in preparation for making more space in the house as we grow to a family of 3.  The space he's sitting in is now completely filled (in an organized fashion) with our "stuff".  Now our basement actually has space available for one day envisioning a rec room.  Next project... the nursery!

28 Weeks

We rang in my 28 weeks with a Colorado baby shower!  With how big I'm getting, it's hard to deny that there's a "baby on board".  Neighbors Shannon and Michell threw a beautiful nautical-themed baby shower.  Thank you so much for all the time and hard work you put into the celebration for Baby Garnier!

Check out this home-made cake crafted by neighbor Michell!  She finished it that same morning with a trip to the donut shop.  The surprise...?  The donuts make up the inside structure of the lighthouse!!

I knew those donuts could serve an even greater purpose than their architectural function - Michell knows my pregnancy cravings well!

Rob stopped by at the end of the party to help me thank the guests and hosts, and we posed for this 28-week post-party pic.

26 Weeks: Baby Shower!

A celebration for Baby Garnier!!!  Natalie along with fantastic aunts and cousins made this day truly special.  Look at those yummy home-made desserts! The food, flowers, decorations, games...all of it was just perfect.  Equally wonderful was getting to see so many family and friends while home last weekend.  Hard to believe that the next time I'm home, it'll be with a little one :)

Me and soon-to-be Aunt Natalie!!!

24 Weeks

24 weeks brings lots of kicks and squirming! I can't believe that they'll get even stronger.  I've started wearing some maternity clothes (thank you to a couple of wonderful friends who have passed along some pieces to me!), but can still fit into a few of my own.  I know that rummaging through my closet will get more challenging as the weather gets cooler. 

At home, I think the girls are starting to sense that something is up...Ellie won't leave me alone and she's totally comfortable laying next to and on me in awkward, seemingly uncomfortable positions to be close to my belly :)  This morning, I was laying on the couch reading and the girls decided to come up and snuggle.  Emma bumped Ellie off my lap and took over the spot, so Ellie cuddled up nestled between my legs.  Too cute!

22 Weeks: More baby bump photos from Greece

After spending about one week on the island of Crete, we took another ferry north to Santorini.  The island of Santorini is a ring of cliffs that remains from a volcano explosion, actually multiple explosions over the past hundreds of years.  In this photo, we are on the still-active volcano in the center of the caldera.  The volcano last erupted in the 1950's.  During a portion of our hike, we observed sulphuric gas coming out of some of its rocks.  Off in the distance, the white on top of the cliff is Fira - a main city on Santorini.  Oh, and we took a pirate ship to get to the volcano - quite the adventurous day for our little one!

This is a picture of me in our "cave" residence.  The majority of the hotels are built into the sides of the cliffs - a very unique but fun lodging experience.  We thought this would be a fun photo to take for comparison sake to the 10 week photo posted back in June.  I feel like the baby grew a lot on this trip!  Hopefully not just the result of all the yummy vacation indulgences :)

Our first night in Oia, we were lucky to be "upgraded" to a "cave house" with private outdoor jacuzzi.  We arrived with enough time to put on our suits and enjoy the famous Santorini sunset from our balcony.  With the rush of our daily adventures, mommy and baby finally had some time to just relax.

This was our last night out in Oia before leaving Santorini for home the next morning.  I think this particular evening, baby got to enjoy some delicious caramel chocolate cake after a wonderful dinner - yum!

21 Weeks: Baby bump photos from Greece

So many dreams coming true at once :)  I've wanted to travel to Greece since I was 12 and be a mommy since I can remember.  This was the start to our "Babymoon".  Our first day in Athens, we visited the Acropolis and this is the Temple of Athena Nike on our climb up to the Parthenon.

We rented a car in Athens and drove to the Peloponnesian Peninsula where we visited ruins at Mycenae, the beautiful coastal town of Nafplio and Epidaurus.  This is us in Epidaurus visiting the famous amphitheater.  It was huge and the acoustics were amazing!

Leaving the mainland, we took a ferry to Crete and enjoyed some beach time.  The water was crystal clear and each beach had its own personality.  This is Elafonisi Beach which boasts pink sands and wading waters leading visitors 50 yards out to a sand bar.  Here's a picture Rob took of the baby under Mediterranean waters :)

Above water at Elafonisi - can you see the pink-tinted sand?   It was so pretty that we decided to bring a little of it home with us.

20 Weeks

Growing steady at 20 weeks.  For the time being, we're holding off on learning the gender, but we've got an envelope containing the "reveal" if we change our minds!  At 20 weeks, baby's measurements are right at the 50th percentile.  One exciting development for us has been feeling the baby's movement - I started feeling it more and more earlier in the week, growing increasingly confident that it was in fact the baby.  By the end of the week, Rob could feel the movements, too!

Look at that cute little face!  We were lucky to get any sort of detail on the facial features given how squirmy our little one was being!

Rob couldn't help but smile when he saw this pose - a little "gun show" for the camera!

Our little one is still showing to be an excellent self-soother - we'll have to see if this habit carries over once outside the womb.  We actually got to watch in real time as the baby brought his or her thumb up to get a taste... you can see the ultrasound technician's comment in the image!

18 Weeks

After church today, we headed in to Old Town for some delicious brunch.  I got my donut fix by sampling Rob's "Coffee and Donut" flavored pancake.  My arthritis dietary "cheats" are staying small but are growing more frequent... some things are just too hard to resist!

We got to sneak an extra peek at the baby this past week. Baby is looking healthy and sure likes to move around a lot!!  We're excited about the 20-week ultrasound coming up soon :)

17 Weeks

Development highlights for this week include the baby's skeleton changing from soft cartilage to bone.  The baby weights about 5 ounces and is about 5 inches long from head to bottom.

16 Weeks

Baby gave us a strong heartbeat at our 16-week check-up.  Grow baby grow!

15 Weeks - Baby at the Beach

This weekend we enjoyed a trip back East and couldn't resist introducing our little one to the ocean.  It might be just the sound of the waves for now, but before we know it our little one will be running in and out of the water!

14 Weeks

Officially in the 2nd trimester!  Right now, the weird thing that I'm having to get used to is my belly button slowly turning itself inside-out!  I wasn't expecting that to happen quite so soon!  :O  As you can see, this photo was taken outside on our balcony - thankfully the smoke from the fires in Northern Colorado has mostly subsided and we're happy to be able to spend more time outdoors.  Although the indoors is feeling a lot more comfortable now, too, thanks to recently installed A/C!  Yeah!

12 Weeks

Here is a happy Mommy-to-be!!!  I'm so glad everything checked out at our 12 week appointment. This weekend we are spending our afternoons purging the basement as part of our preparations for our new arrival (though, of course the baby won't be in the basement!).  I took some time earlier today to experiment more with baking under the restrictions of my diet and made some delicious lemon blueberry scones - yum!

Baby at 12 weeks

Look at all those precious parts you can already see at 12 weeks - it's a little baby for real!  During this 12 week visit we also got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time.

We caught the baby on camera sucking his or her thumb! Already a self-soother - how sweet is that?  :)

Sunday at Eldorado Canyon State Park

We decided to escape the smoky air from the High Park Fire and head southwest into the mountains.  We enjoyed a picnic relaxing in the canyon alongside a creek.  Here are the girls lounging in the shade, happily enjoying some time outside.

10 weeks

Just starting to show, and I can feel the difference.

Baby at 9 weeks

Ultrasound at 9 weeks - keep your eyes peeled for some movin' and kickin'.

Baby at 7 weeks

With this little heartbeat we got confirmation that our lives would be forever changed!  What a little miracle!  This was the video we used to surprise Rob's family with the happy news - we held up our iPad to my belly and started playing the "live ultrasound"!  It only took seconds for them to realize what they were looking at.  :)