Putting the crib together

... Continued

Last night, after Bear got home from work, we were able to put together Tyler's crib. We've been meaning to do it for quite awhile now, and just haven't. So last night, we pulled out the box and got started. Daisy wanted to help, and we tried to let her be involved, but it ended up being more of a circus trying to put together a crib around a curious dog. Haha!

The holidays are here!

... Continued

We're seeing the doctor every week now for my pregnancy. Tyler is still in the breech position, making a natural delivery almost impossible. At our 36 week appointment, the doctor told us she was going to go ahead and schedule a c-section for me. I was devestated. I really, really wanted to deliver naturally, and go through the whole "labor and delivery" process. I had a really hard day trying to come to terms with the change of plans. I kept reminding myself that it's the best option for Tyler. He's healthy and happy, just in the wrong position. It's best for him to be delivered by c-section, instead of risking his health to deliver normally.

It was a rough few days, but I have finally come to accept the c-section, and we're moving on with plans. I re-packed the hospital bag to take into account that we'll be staying at the hospital for a few more days. I'm trying to get our holiday thing together so I won't have to worry about it during those first weeks of recovery and new-mommy-ing.

Last night, I decided that Bear deserves at least one batch of homemade sugar cookies this holiday. So... off my 9 month pregnant self went to make cookies. Let me tell you... using a rolling pin is a whole new experience at 9 months pregnant! :) It was definately messy, but a few hours later, I had a double batch of sugar cookies made and cooling for when Bear got home from work.



This is what happens to your shirt when you're THAT pregnant and trying to make cookies. I had a huge flour spot on the front of my shirt. And this was AFTER I tried to dust it off! :)

We were also able to put our Christmas tree up last week. I know it's pretty early, but with the possibility that Tyler could come any day now, we wanted to be ready for Christmas. We even went and picked out a Christmas ornament this year. It's two snowmen holding a baby snowmen, and it says "Proud New Parents", with our names and the date.

To be continued...

Updates

I know I've been a little slack in updating this, so I'm gonna do a little catching up.

My two sister-in-laws threw me a baby shower on the Saturday before Halloween. One of the women from my ward helped, and we had a great turn-out. A bunch of people from my ward, and some friends from work came, and we had a great time! I am so grateful they put it together for me!

Halloween was an awesome event in the Perkins house! I made homemade pumpkin pies, and we got together with Bear's brothers and their families. We barbequed, carved pumpkins, and then the kids got to go trick-or-treating. When dinner was over, the Bear and his brothers took one of the jack-o-lanterns and cut the bottom off. They then proceeded to wear said pumpkin on their heads. But... it gets better. Out came the Sterno gel, and the pumpkin was covered, and then lit on fire!

This was after the fire went out, and Bear was sitting on his motorcycle. The neighborhood kids loved it! Everyone was stopping to take pictures as they were trick-or-treating.

This is me at 34 weeks, right before Halloween.

This is me at 35.5 weeks, on November 9th. It was really early in the morning, and we were waiting for Richard and Jessica to come pick us up so we could go to the temple.

That morning, we were able to go to the temple for Richard and Jessica. They were able to recieve their endowments, and then be sealed together. It was an awesome experience to be their escorts, and be there with them as they got to go through the temple for the first time. Being pregnant in the temple was so incredible. Tyler kicked and squirmed through the whole endowment session, and then calmed down just as the sealing was starting. I have no doubt that he knew where we were, and was excited about it.

More to come...

Baby shower!!

My first baby shower was today!! My sister and my mom put together a great little get-together with some of the most treasured women in my life. They put a lot of hard work into making everything look great. My mom made this AWESOME diaper cake, and she and my sister decorated it with the cutest things! My sister made some cute pacifier clips that I'm so excited to use! We got so many cute baby clothes and some of the stuff we needed from our registry. I'm so grateful for friends and family who are excited for our new little addition!!

This is me at 30.5 weeks. I'm getting bigger, but I have a feeling I am going to grow A LOT more in the next 9 weeks! I want Baby Tyler to be big and strong when he gets here, so I suppose I'll get as big as he needs me to be! :)

New pictures!

Here's some more pictures from today. I'm 28 1/2 weeks along right now. I can't believe how much bigger I've gotten in such a short amount of time! I finally broke down and bought maternity clothes. I got a few shirts, some undershirts, and a dress for all around $50! Gotta love Savers! I don't see the point in buying brand new clothes when I'm only going to wear them for a few months. For now, my maternity pants I bought at the very beginning are doing well, so I just needed some shirts.

Just the other day, Bear and I were talking about what needs to be done before Tyler gets here. We have less than 12 weeks now until I'm full term, and we haven't hardly even started on the nursery! Since our extra bedroom/office is going to be the nursery, we have to make some space in the garage for our roll-top desk and our deep freezer so that we can paint and start setting up the nursery. But, that's easier said than done, especially if you take a look at our garage!! So... the first item of business is to get rid of some of the junk that's taking up room in the garage. Hopefully by this weekend we can get some of that moved so that we can start making room in the bedroom. We have our crib (thanks to my sis & bro in law!), our changing table (thanks to my sis!), a dresser, and a wingback chair to go in the nursery. We're going to paint once we get everything out of the room, and then set everything up. I'm hoping to have it all done by Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, it's that time of year again! Being married to a Perkins means celebrating Halloween in a whole new way. Bear's family are all HUGE Halloween fans, so every year, the celebration has to be incredible. Last year, we celebrated at my bro-in-law's house, and all the nieces and nephews went trick-or-treating together. This year, I'm not sure where we're going to celebrate, but I know it will be fun! We've put up the decorations we have, and we're adding to them when I come across something fun and cheap. I'm thinking of dressing up this year. We don't usually, cause by the time we get everything ready for the party, I usually haven't come up with a good costume. But this year, with a big prego-belly, it's perfect for dressing up! We'll see if I actually get around to getting our costumes together this year. More pictures to come in a few more weeks!

25 weeks and still growing...

Here's a new picture of me from today! I'm 25 weeks along now. In the last two weeks, I've gotten so much bigger! I think it might be all the pancakes I've been eating... ;-) Tyler seems to be growing big and strong. His kicks and punches are a lot more noticeable now. I can tell he's getting bigger, because I can feel him moving around even when he's just wiggling.

We go to the doctor again next week to have him checked. So far, everything is going well. Our last doctor's visit, she said I'm not gaining enough weight. I lost quite a bit of weight at the very beginning, and I'm slowly gaining some of that back, but I'm still weighing in less than what my pre-pregnancy weight was. But she said that as long as everything else is good, and I'm still healthy, the weight gain isn't such a huge issue. (Thank goodness!!)

In other news, we're trying to find a way for me to be able to be a stay-at-home-mom. We can't really afford daycare, and having family watch the baby isn't always an option, so we're looking into how to reduce our bills in order for me to be able to stay at home. Couponing has become a neccessity, but I'm getting pretty good at it. I've even been able to get enough things for free lately that we could donate a bag of hygene supplies to a "Support the Troops" drive. We're also cooking more at home and reducing the amount we spend for spur-of-the-moment things that we don't really need. Hopefully, by December, we'll have a plan worked out so I can quit and stay at home with Tyler!

Right now, just being pregnant and trying to keep up with work and all the household chores is enough for me. It seems like anytime I sit down for longer than 10 minutes, I fall asleep. haha. As soon as the weather cools off a bit, we're going to get our extra bedroom cleaned out (and mostly put in the garage for storage) and start getting the nursery ready! :)

I'm getting bigger!!!

Here's the newest set of pictures, from when I was 21 weeks along. I'm growing more, and I finally look pregnant, and not just gaining weight! The pregnancy is going great. Tyler is moving and kicking a lot. I had to go to the ER last week because I was dehydrated, but I'm doing a lot better now. I'm drinking plenty of water and trying to stay feeling well. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and she said Tyler is right on track.

I made a trip to Target today to do some more coupon deals. I got everything in the above picture for $7. 48. It's about $43 worth of merchandise!

In other news, I've started really working on Bear's family history. I signed up for Ancestry.com, and I'm doing pretty well. I've traced his mom's family back to 1630AD. I found out that they're from the South, in places like Alabama and the Carolinas. They were slave owners and part of the Confederacy.

Bear's dad's family is entirely different. I've traced them back to 1689AD. They are mostly from New York and Maryland, although some of them immigrated from Ireland. They were part of the early church, and made the trek west with a lot of the other pioneers.

It's really really interesting to find out all of the stories of the people in our history. I've found lots of pictures and old family photos. I'm really excited to keep going, and hopefully be able to take some of Bear's mom's family names to the temple!