still kickin'

we are currently tip toeing around the end of this pregnancy!

i stepped up to the 38 week box and am so ready to have this baby in my arms already.

heavenly father was so wise when he made women pregnant for 9 months because once you hit that point, you are done and would so rather have the baby out than in.

9 months is the perfect amount of time when you can finally say out loud i'm ready for the baby to be here and you have no fear.

i'm still so very grateful that i do have this little babe inside me though.

it's kinda bizarre to think there's a full grown baby in my stomach just forced to stay in there, ha.

when i roll (literally, i have to roll out) of my bed in the mornings there's a long mirror right in front of me.

and every morning i look at myself and think "woah, my belly is so big! when did that happen!?"

38 weeks 2 days

this baby is more than welcome to come anytime after tuesday afternoon (actually we'd prefer him to come on friday for various reasons:).
tuesday afternoon is when casey finishes his anatomy final for the semester and can finally be depended upon to come back to me whenever birthing this baby begins!

beyond pregnancy, nothing really is going on, ha.
i've finished up pretty much all the projects i've been wanting to do.
i've done a bunch of freezer cooking to prepare for the months ahead.

i do wish there were more fun things and pictures to share at this time...but there's not.
soon there will be a plethora though!
and i can't wait for it!!!!!!

a baby shower!

my very sweet friend, katie, and next door neighbor was so kind and thoughtful enough to throw me a baby shower before baby boy came.

she herself is just 4 weeks behind me with her 2nd baby girl!

it's been so fun being pregnant together and experiencing all the same stuff.

so many very sweet girls came to the shower and it was so fun.

i'd only been in lincoln a little over 2 months but i truly felt like these were all my real friends who came,

and let me tell you, they are such a fun group of gals.

it was so fun to sit and chat with them all about babies and pregnancy and life.

i just love when we all get together.

a bunch of of the girls helped katie with the food: popcorn because i in fact was ready to pop :)

we had 5 different very yummy kinds that i kept eating and eating and eating.

it's like i was pregnant or something...

there were also three different kinds of the most delicious cake pops.

and little babies on everyone's laps.

and to top it all off, she did the most darling job with the balloon decorations everywhere.

i loved it!

thank you katie for the wonderful shower!
and susan for the pictures!
and everyone else for helping and coming!

november has arrived!

do you know what november means!

it (should) mean the birth of our baby boy!!

we are so overly excited.

at the beginning of this week,

our dental school friends had their twins eleven weeks early.

a. scary they're so early, luckily they are doing great

b. it made us super jealous and we really really wanted to have our baby here already!

clothing consists of casey's shirts and my favorite PJ pants if i'm home.

dresses if i'm going out and about.

occasional pant/cute shirt sightings have been rumored to appear every once and awhile.

fingers/hands are crazy numb at random times.

super annoying.

back pain=gone, hallelujah.

i never thought it'd go away.

red face/acne= cleared up lots.

another big hallelujah.

i was worried my face was going to be forever scarred from it,

but one day i looked in the mirror and it was back to what it was from the past years.

oh joy (that may sound vain, but it was really important to me!)

sure it comes and goes even still but at least i know there's hope.

maybe i will turn back to what i once was like before all these hormonal changes!!!!!

clothes are washed and folded in drawers.

baby's room is not anywhere near finished but there's definitely more organization in there than there was before.

we just are so excited for baby boy to make his entrance this month!

(and to be able to sleep on my tummy, pick things up from the floor, not breathe hard when trying to put on shoes/change sleeping positions, not have my heart race when i lay down, i could go on but won't...:)

here i was at 35 weeks 2 days.

tomorrow i will be 36 weeks which means officially 9 months, unbelievable!

i can totally do 4ish more weeks.

big thanks to casey, my wonderful assistant to assisting and making me laugh.

32 weeks and conference this weekend!

we have made it to 32 weeks!

thirty two!

that means we are down to less than 2 months which is so totally crazy.

i'm amazed that in 2 months time i will have a child to take care of, my very own child!

it's overwhelming to grasp my head around.

went to an appointment to day and she (my doctor) said everything was looking wonderful.

it's so wonderful to hear that little heartbeat each time.

and then getting to see him on the screen, it's just so fun.

like last time, the little boy didn't feel like showing his face, instead he was doing the cry baby with his fists, covering up his little face...oh little baby...

so apparently, i'm beginning to look super pregnant.

lots and lots of strangers are always asking me when i'm due now, ha.

which is totally fine, i really don't mind.

they're always so sweet though in congratulating me and seeming genuinely happy for me

lately when i'm walking past store windows i'll catch a glance of myself and think "woah, when did i get so big?! i didn't look that big in the mirror at my house!"

and then the nurse at my appt said i was only going to triple in size over the next two months...how lovely.

belly button=80% out

hot flashes=totally real

face=crazy dry and still a little red

my right arm easily goes numb these days.

i was putting mascara on and my thumb was losing feeling!

sleeping, well that's always uncomfortable but having you arm(s) go numb when you're lying on your side is not cool... but apparently normal of what my doctor says?

i've begun reading this book and am totally learning tons!

it's like the first pregnancyish book where i'm reading about things i hadn't heard before, love it

another funny thing, i went around shopping with two of my friends the other week, who happen to be due in december and january.
we made quite the scene walking around as 3 big pregnant ladies together.

lastly,
THIS WEEKEND IS CONFERENCE!
YAY!
love listening to the prophets and apostles.
we'll most likely be watching it via internet and connecting it to our TV,
hope you join!
and did you happen to watch last weekend's women's conference?
it was beyond splendid (and super emotional...or maybe that's just because i'm pregnant...)



ps- we have 2/3 dressers finished!
so close to finishing the last one it's just been too cold to finish painting the last few days, boo

once the last one is finished i will share them all.
so happy with how they're turning out!

because i want to put up a blog post today but have no energy to go through lots of pictures,

you get just one,

from nearly a month ago.
but i sure do love this pic

plans for the day:
go have lunch at casey's school.
laundry.
stretch for 30 min
continue to make my house a house or order
go to casey's football game tonight

happy wednesday.

bump at 30 weeks

30 down, 10 TO GO!

that sounds absolutely insane, INSANE i tell you!

as i was getting ready to write this post thinkings how far along i'll be friday, i got so many butterflies.

30 is the beginning of the last stretch.

i can't believe it's getting to the end.

i have SO much to do though.

i feel like my house is still in shambles.

there's so many more house projects to get done.

baby projects to get done.

baby things to buy.

decisions to make with the birth etc.

and time to emotionally get ready (sure i've had 30 weeks to do all that but i'm a procrastinator you see... i've also only lived here for a little over a month and been out of town for 2 weeks of it...)

pregnancy really has been great.

my back is usually always sore.

my acne has not gone away.

i'm excited to be able to sleep on my stomach again.

getting out of the car is a little bit harder than usual now.

clothes still fit comfortably enough.

other than that, i feel very normal and i know i'm very fortunate to say thus.

this morning i finally realized the baby was having hiccups, HICCUPS!

bah!

hiccups have never seemed so cute in my life before, loved it, and casey was around to feel it which was presh too.

doctors appts have been going great.

i get to see that little boy on the ultrasound screen every time and it's just so cute.

that's my baby right there!

this last appt, my doctor was trying to get his arm to move a little so we could see his face, and you could see on the ultra sound her hand push on my belly and push his arm, it was really fun to see (he didn't move and we didn't get any good pictures, every time except that one he's been a star on screen:)

so here i was last week.

both some where in the 29 1/2 week range.
i thought i looked ginormo in the BYU shirt pic, so i had casey take some other ones a few days later but now i'm like, "eh, i'm pregnant and that WAS what i looked like that day, whatevs..."

i know i'm getting bigger but it's less noticeable to me now, it kinda just is this big ol' belly that well...just is, ha.

and since casey is always my model for me to get my lighting right, i thought i'd include his this time :)

thus far my belly button isn't totally out yet but it's definitely not in, it's like flat with a little ridge on one side.
clothing wise, i still have quite a few non-matenity shirts i can wear.
i had already collected a few maternity shirts over the past few years when i saw crazy good sales.
i have quite a few dresses and skirts i still fit into nicely.
i borrowed a few shirts from my SILs while in AZ that i can now choose from.
and the jeans you see above, are my biggest maternity purchase thus far from H&M in AZ, very happy with them :)

a shower

my super sweet SIL, megan, and my mom put together a slightly last minute shower for me.

it was seriously so fun to get to see a bunch of friends.

and they were all of course so surprised to see me with a pregnant belly.

it just felt so special having so many people who i really care about and love in my life here to celebrate with me and my baby.

sadly, there were pretty much no pictures taken with friends :(

here's some of the pictures that my cousin, danielle, took for me.

a few notes:
balloons make a party a party, am i right?
annalee helped me open the sweet gifts.
my aunt handmade a beautiful blanket and sent it all the way.
mini cupcakes are bomb.
a friend made a bahama bucks onesie and bib for me, how awesome?
fruit pizza is just the best.

 

i truly loved seeing all my friends.
that was the best part.
it was so crazy fun to open up all these cute little baby clothes that i got to keep!
mostly i've just looked at the cute stuff but not gotten to take it home so this was so exciting!

thank you to all those who came, you were so sweet!!!!!!

well, hello 23 weeks

 
don't i look much bigger on the right?
i personally think so...they were taken within seconds of each other.
it's all about the position and angle i guess...

about being pregnant:
1. lots of kicking lately, it's so fun. i just love it.
did i mention yet that sometimes i can see my stomach actually move when he kicks?
love that.
the kicking has moved on from flutters and to kicks that feel fun!
2. back pain...still terrible.
i guess it may be getting a little better.
but i'd say i'm pretty dang lucky if that's my only legit pregnancy complaint.
(please do go away after being pregnant!!!!)
3. some of my shorts aren't fitting anymore...that's disappointing.
but some still do which is cool.
4. can't WAIT to get back to all my clothes in nebraska!
i'll have so many more choices, yayyyyy!
5. the acne (my 2nd and last pregnancy complaint) might be getting a little better.
i'm trying a combo between coconut oil (thanks jessie!) and a face wash (thanks brooke!)...
go away red face! go find some teenager to torment!
6. no pregnancy cravings...
7. i love sleeping (but is that really a pregnancy thing? that's like an always kimber thing...)
8. bending over to get things is getting a little tougher.
ha, there's definitely not nearly as much room now as there once was before and it's only gonna get less roomy!
9. we're just so excited for baby boy.
we've gotten a few gifts from him from family and it's like christmas opening them up and imagining a baby, MY BABY, in these little clothes!
we feel so incredibly blessed with the thought of having a baby this year.
i turned to casey tonight and said, what's 40-23?
that means in 17 weeks, we should have a baby!
golly that seems so soon!

we've officially moved away from new jersey!
we're temporarily visiting (hot, sticky, humid) indiana and will be moving into our nebraska place this week!
WAHOO!

ps-laura, we watched the business of being born like you said and it truly WAS great to watch!
thanks girl!

nebraska in 24 hours.

i must tell of my nebraska tales when i went back 5 weeks ago.

like i had mentioned, we decided it'd be more cost effective to fly me out there for the appt than do it here in NJ curses to you NJ, curses

so we woke up at way way early to get me to the 5:30 am flight to st louis which would then take me to nebraska.

so after lots of tears, like i mentioned before, we got the trip all set up.

we have the nicest new friends in lincoln that we couldn't be more thrilled about.

as luck has it, they will be our next door neighbors in NE.

so katie was nice enough to babysit me for the day :)

she picked me up from the airport, entertained me at her home, and drove me to my doctor's appt.

she is just so wonderful.

she also happens to be expecting her 2nd just 1 month after me!

so it was the first time i got to actually talk and relate about pregnancy openly with someone now that pregnancy was feeling more real!

it was really just the best trip for that reason, ha.

i also got to peak in the window of our new little place which was exciting as well.

it really will be such a great place to be with being close to the school, having some great neighbors and a great place to live.

yay for nebraska!

the appt went wonderful and it was just a matter of getting back to new jersey.

since my plane left at 5 am and it was an hour drive from lincoln to omaha, we decided it would just work best to sleep at the airport that night.

i know it sounds kinda insane, but it worked out wonderfully.

the airport security gave me great tips on how to sleep the comfiest that night.

i set up a whole, nice bed for myself and got the maximum hours of sleep.

i woke up an exact hour before my flight.

now that people, is the way to do early flights.

we flew from omaha to chicago to newark.

blah, for flying so much.

but, flying with a big comfy pillow makes it a billion times easier.

so yay for being done with that part of the pregnancy!

and lastly, here it 21 weeks!

i feel like i've gotten crazy bigger in this last week which is good and bad.

good: because it's fun to feel like i'm actually pregnant finally!

bad: i'm only 21 weeks!

 

and happy pioneer day!
when we were getting ready this morning casey said "we should be going to a rodeo today"
i agree. a rodeo, pancake breakfast, parade, and fireworks.
we miss you utah.

half way

so last week i was 20 weeks.

half way through my first pregnancy, how crazy is that?!

i'm definitely starting to feel like i am pregnant and things are happening!

 let's make a list:

1. my tummy is starting to feel tight, blah. not really itchy just tight!

anyone have recommendations on creams for stretch marks/itchiness?

2. like i said before, baby is a kicking.

it's been super fun for me, something is alive and growing in there!

3. last night was my first night of "mmeh, i'm uncomfortable trying to get to sleep..."

it didn't take me long to get to sleep but it was still annoying.

4. speaking of sleeping, i'm creeping up on wanting 3 pillows while i sleep.

i'm at 2 right now, we only brought 3, so i'll just have to wait til nebraska.

5. pants are beginning to get tight.

we bought one of those belly bands from target last week which i'm hoping will make it more comfortable and my shorts last a little longer til (maternity) pant season.

we also had the official 20 week ultrasound this last week.

we did it in new jersey this time so casey got to see baby boy moving!

 i hate you, new jersey, why are you so freaking expensive!

it really was the best to have him there and see all that movement.

some highs and lows of last week

BIGGEST HIGH:

casey felt the baby kick!!!!!!

after days of hoping to get him to feel something he finally did!

i almost broke his thumb trying to get his hand over to feel in the process.

luckily i did because almost immediately there was one and only one really big kick that he felt!

ha, so fun.

what a game trying to get casey to feel the baby kick at this stage with the combination of the kicks not really being that big and kicking being so sporadic at times.

oddly enough, the really big kicking happened when casey started reading his portion of our book together out loud, that'll be fun to remember :)

BIGGEST LOW:

the dishes were horrendous last week.

they were literally mountain high every night.

it's probably due to me actually making some kind of real yummy food everyday/night.

i hate dishes.

i hate having no dishwasher.

i hate the thought that we will have no dishwasher the next 4 years of our lives...

high:

the baby has suddenly made his presence known all week long with all this kicking.

it's really quite fun :)

low:

more on dishes,

muffin pans are 100% the worst thing to clean by hand.

they're just terrible.

high:

video chatting with family.

low:

my back hurts

high:

getting my first gel manicure.

those puppies rock.

low: 

going to the bathroom all the time

high:

july is going by so fast,

 it is half way over!

wahoo with five million exclamation points.

doing summer sales is the only time i want the summers to go fast and hurry up and be over.
i know 100% this will be the last time i'm excited for summer to end.

but we are SO EXCITED for nebraska and to get outta new jersey.

low:
after 2 games of bowling last weekend we were both totally sore and tired...
so much for that bowling class, ha

high:

casey signed up for his first semester of dental school classes.

how fun is that?

i can't think of another low so my last high:
looking around at different, cute shops in the mall at their baby boy clothes is the funnest thing ever.
every 3 seconds, we were those annoying customers and would gasp and say in a high pitched voice "look how cute this is!!!"
even casey thinks they're all cute and it gets us more and more excited!
it was all we could do to not buy tons of crazy cute baby boy clothes.
it'll be so fun to start buying stuff in NE for this baby.

more pictures later this week!

more about this little baby!

thank you so much for all your sweet words!

we are so excited for this year(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

all the changes we have coming our way will be wonderful, but most importantly having a baby and starting our family!

it's been so fun for me all summer looking at people's blogs that have kids.

we just can't wait til the cute kids we play with will be OURS!

my official due date is nov 30th, i'm measuring a little ahead of that so we will see what happens!

the picture i posted yesterday was me at 17 weeks, i believe.

i'm now about 18 1/2.

me post workout, we don't really have ANY mirrors in our place so this is me on my tippie toes!

 the only way to workout is in tank tops around this area or you DIE of humid hotness!
isn't my facial expression awesome? man, i'm cool when i take pictures of myself in the mirror.

i've had the easiest pregnancy of mankind, i feel like,

if it weren't for us hoping to be pregnant i probably wouldn't have known a thing til i was 12 weeks along.

nothing about me has changed except that i now am breaking out like the teenage face i never had to experience.

it's been so fun these last 3 weeks starting to see a difference in that belly area!

with my 5'3" frame there's not much vertical room for that baby so out is really all that's left.

i feel our little boy moves TONS whenever i'm working out.

i didn't workout for the week we were in hawaii plus a few days on each end of the trip.

when i came back it felt like i was running with a fanny pack full of water down there!!!!!

i've gotten used to it now but it was the strangest feeling!

 the whole flutter/kicking sensation is also something you gotta get used to.

at first it was like "i think that's the baby moving...eh"

then it was like "i think the babies moving...maybe it could stop for awhile, that feels strange..."

and now it's like "hey i think he's moving!? or is that just me nervous hoping he's moving?"

i'll tell you how my feelings change on that subject in the coming months :)

wondering why we waited so long to share the news?

well, let me tell you, it was quite the complicated process.

i really didn't feel like telling anyone til i was 14 weeks along as it was, because like i said, there was no difference in me whatsoever.

but more importantly we weren't able to have a doctor's appt til i was 18 weeks!

graduating from BYU means no more BYU insurance.

8 weeks=finals week

9 weeks= graduation week

10 weeks=traveling week

11 weeks= settling into new jersey week

12 weeks= still settling into new jersey week

also, if i had gone to the doctor while still on BYU insurance and been officially pregnant,

a new insurance company would not have liked that.

we learned that if there's no officialness of it through a doctor, you're not legally pregnant on forms.

so the waiting began to be accepted onto insurance.

waiting and waiting and waiting.

while we were in hawaii i turned to casey and said, "i don't want to wait for insurance anymore, i just want to go to the doctor!!!"

low and behold the 1st sunday we were back we learned that the insurance was officially approved!!!

so we began looking around at places here in NJ and that whole monday i was a bawling mess of tears.

i must clarify, we have insurance but it does not cover maternity insurance, which we were totally prepared for.

so as we're calling around to places (we as in casey because i couldn't get a grip on myself after the first place i called) telling them our situation (2 months here, no maternity insurance, yada yada) they're giving us quotes.

and the quotes they're giving us are astronomical for 2 visits!

into the thousands, people, and that was all the places

i've had a few siblings who've had to pay for babies and they gave us estimates of what to expect.

and boy were they WAY OFF!

again, there's me crying and crying and crying thinking "why did we go to hawaii! we should have saved the money!" "why didn't my siblings tell me the truth of how much it'd cost?" "why why why!?!?!"

so then casey calls this one place in nebraska asking what kind of blood work i need to get done if we were to come to their office in the fall.

after a half hour of talking to them about pricing, visits, etc, we decided it'd be more cost effective to FLY me to nebraska for my visits!

can you believe that?!?!?!!?!?

also, all the people we talked with on the phone from nebraska were a bajillion time nicer than the new jersians.

i can't begin to tell you how grateful i am that we'll be living in nebraska the next 4 years and not new jersey, ha.

the nebraska prices are crazy lower and exactly what we thought we'd be paying.

i flew to nebraska on tuesday and was able to see that precious baby moving and kicking!

more about our 1st appt/nebraska day for another day!!!!

thank you again for all your sweet wishes!

oh and here's his first and only clothes we have so far!
we picked up a little boy and girl outfit in hawaii!
ps- i FINALLY have gone through my hawaii pictures and will be sharing them next week!
all the little boy ones were so ugly.
i'm pretty sure we looked at every shop at the swap meet but FINALLY found a cute one!
happy we looked so hard because now i can't for him to wear it!!!!!!!!

oh baby, baby!

 

we are so excited to finally share with everyone that we are EXPECTING!!

baby boy
will be making his entrance in late November this year!