Our 2011 Christmas Photos

Every year our wedding photographer offers a mini christmas shoot. I really wanted to do it this year to capture our first Christmas as a family of 3. We headed up to a tree lot in Sherman Oaks Thanksgiving weekend to meet up with Jenny. She's seriously the most awesome photographer ever. She's super sweet and it's so easy to be in front of the camera with her. She did the most fabulous job, and Scarlett couldn't have been more perfect that day.

7 Weeks

Man has the weeks flown by since Scarlett made her dramatic entrance into this world. Being a mom has been so rewarding...I never knew I could love someone so much. I just have a few minutes to spare (stink bug is taking her nap right now)...so I wanted to share her one week photos that were featured on the On to Baby blog taken by Kristin Rogers. She was such a fussy butt during the whole shoot (we found out a few days later she wasn't getting enough to eat from me) but I love how it turned out anyways...

Check them out HERE

It seems so long ago we took these! She's already changed so much!

41 Weeks

Monday was my Dr's appt to see if I had progressed at all, and if not, they'd set up a date for an induction. I hadn't really progressed at all so the nurse decided to hook me up to a monitor just to make sure everything was still working and baby girl was doing fine. Her heart rate went up every time she moved, so that was good. I didn't even realize it, but I was having small contractions while hooked up to the machine. It was nice to finally be able to tell what an actual contraction was and when it ended. After 30 minutes the nurses looked at the printed paper and decided that everything looked okay and she was still doing fine. The nurse told me she'd call me the next day after talking to the Dr. and they'd set up an induction date with the hospital. Yesterday I got the call and we decided on Thursday morning at 9am. So, about this time tomorrow I'll probably be in labor! We're so nervous and excited at the same time. I can't believe we'll be able to see her little face in a day or two! I already love her so much.

Here's a pic of her nursery finally done :) All it needs is a baby girl now.

One more week.

One more week (maybe). I really don't know how it's already week 39. It's so crazy how fast it really goes. I remember the day I told Jeff we were having a baby like it was a week ago. Before I know it, I'll be saying how fast her 1 year birthday went by. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm ready. Are you ever really ready? I mean, I enjoyed being pregnant. So far, up 'till now I've really had a great pregnancy. But, I have no idea what it's really going to be like with her here. I keep imagining it...but I'm sure I'm waaaay off...hahaha. I think we're ready. Her room is ready. Our bags are packed. Mini baby girl clothes are washed...

Last week at my Dr.'s appointment she said I'm about 80% effaced, and still not really dilated...only about a half a cm. I guess that's good progress? She keeps asking me how many contractions I'm having. I seriously to this day can't tell you if I've had one. I probably have and just had no idea that it was one. The women that were in our Childbirth 101 class described is as a spider web feeling in your abdomen. Uh... I definitely have not felt anything like that so I have no clue! Hopefully I'll be able to tell I'm in labor when the time comes. I asked her at our last appt. how big she thinks she's going to be...everyone tells me I look so tiny. She said it's hard to really tell, but from the way I'm measuring she's guessing about 7-7.5 pounds.

So for now we're just continuing to wait for her to make her entrance. I'm trying to keep busy. Last week I finished her butterfly mobile. It came out so much better than I thought it would (I'll post pics soon of her nursery). Going to the movies 'cause I doubt we'll be going anytime soon (btw we saw Moneyball...Jeff's loves baseball so I said I'd go with him—plus it has Brad Pitt in it...c'mon. It was actually really good!). It's crazy to think we're gonna have a little baby here in a week! (or two... :)

Week 36 Update

Just had my week 36 check up today and everything looks like it's right on track. Still bummed that we don't get any more ultrasounds. I'm so curious to see how much she's changed. Last ultrasound we got was our 18 week checkup where they measured her head, legs and arms, and made sure all her organs were okay (and we found out we were for sure having a girl). I'm sure she looks so much different than this now:

Whoa! I hope she grows into those lips! I have no idea where those came from.

Anyways...I'm measuring perfectly at 36cm's and she's face down right now so the nurse said there really isn't anyway she can justify ordering another ultrasound. Boo. I guess I should be happy that there isn't a need to order one since everything is normal and perfect so far. Everything has gone so smoothly, it really scares me what labor will be like :\

What I'm craving this week: Strawberries...I've ate about 3 lbs of 'em in two weeks.

Everything is pretty much washed and all of the pictures are hung in her nursery...just need to finish packing my hospital bag. Thursday will be our last week of childbirth 101 class...3 weeks to go! :)

Our Maternity Photos

When I first got pregnant I knew I wanted to do a maternity photo shoot. When I really started researching it I never imagined on how much it would cost. I know good photography costs a lot, but the more I started looking into it, I really wanted newborn photos too. I just couldn't see paying more money on a maternity shoot than what we paid on our wedding photos. We couldn't afford both newborn and maternity photos so I really thought about it and decided that newborn photos meant so much more to me. We hired Kristin Rogers to do a shoot for us the first week or so after Scarlett's born and I decided on just having a family member take our photos with our digital SLR camera for maternity photos.

My mom said she'd take photos of Jeff and I so on Saturday evening we headed over to Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim Hills. It's really an awesome place and I really would love to go back and walk on some of the trails or pack a picnic lunch and go there for the day. Here are some of the shots we got while we were there:

The ones of me wearing the white top were from the next day (Jeff accidently had the camera set to the lowest file size for pics). I'm glad we went again because the lighting seemed a little better.

I can't believe we're gonna meet our little girl in 4 weeks!

Getting Ready For Scarlett

I thought I'd try to start a blog again to record being pregnant, Scarlett's birth, and years after, so I'd have something to remember it all by if I didn't get a chance to journal it all down.


Right now we're in the process of clearing things out so we can get her nursery painted and furniture set up. I really wanted to get it done before she's born because we've booked a newborn photo session that's taking place in her nursery...(so excited!) 
Here's Jeff painting the walls grey a few weeks ago:

Last Sunday we Jeff got the crib set up that my mom and step-dad bought for us and it looks awesome! I can't wait to finish the details up.

Here's the assembled crib photo (with bumper pads made by my mom):

We just got the mattress on Tuesday so the crib is almost ready to go. We're just waiting on my mom to make the layered skirt for the bottom. The only other big thing we need to complete is installing the closet system in there so it's utilized better (there was just a single bar going across with a crappy wooden shelf that barely held anything). 

Other things to note coming up:

1. Baby shower this Saturday

2. Just signed up for Childbirth classes for Sept 1st

Baby Shower Aftermath

I'm not sure where we're going to put all of this....yikes.