Hi Ava!

We had our 4-D ultra sound today that Ryan got me for Christmas. She was snuggled against my side throughout the appointment but still think we got some pretty good sneak peaks:

I like her sweet little profile in this one along with her chubby checks and I think her chin looks like mine and Jen's:

She sucked on a thumb or a finger for most of the time during the appointment:

Ryan and I both thought this front on shot with her little smooshed face looked something like sloth from goonies, luckily the majority of the other pictures showed a cute little face and profile so hopefully she will in fact not look like sloth when she arrives :)

She got a little done with the tech pushing on her to have her move around and take her fingers out of her mouth so we could see her face better ,s o she responded by covering her whole face with her hand, this is one of my favorite shots with her sweet little hand up against her face:

I know she's in there all the time but this was fun way of making it even more real, tomorrow is 32 weeks. Were's getting to the home stretch!

Ava's baby shower, thats right, I said AVA!

These friends hosted a lovely baby shower for me & Ava (I'm still having fun saying her name, so I am saying it every chance I get today).


Katie, my friend on the far right from the above pic made me this amazing cake.
Here's her blog site, if you need a great cake, she is your girl, or if you just want to see some incredible cakes check this out: http://cakeittothelimit.blogspot.com/

Ryan sent this gift to be opened first at the shower, I was really confused at first but once you start to sort the colors...

You get this. Our family: Ryan, Heather, Rory and AVA!

So there it is in true Ryan style, he held out, thought about it at length and then was ready to commit to it, but had to figure out a surprising way to tell me. I found out later he had to spray the blocks white and then hand painted the colors. Mine is Red, since that's my favorite color, Ryan's is of course OSU colors, Rory is black and white for obvious reasons and Ava is pink for also obvious reasons. Really truly will never forget this sweet surprise, one of the many reasons I love him and I know he will be a great dad for Ava (got to say it one more time before I end this post!)

These are a few of my favorite things...

I've had lovely birthday today. I thought I would share a post on some of my favorite things as of late...

One of my favorite places to eat is Nicolette's Cafe. I enjoyed a birthday lunch there today with Amy and A.M. Aparently Ryan tried to plan a suprise there for us and had described us to the wait staff on the phone he said we would be there at noon but apparently they didn't spot us even though its a pretty small place, he was pretty disappointed. I say its the thought that counts.


One of my favorites things at Nicolette's is their ribbon cake, yum!!


This is my newest favorite addition to the nursery, its pretty comfy, as you can tell Rory likes it.
I was trying to just take a picture of the recliner I guess Rory thought she should be in it too.



I got new bedding for my birthday another new favorite! Again Rory hopped up there just before I was taking the picture, I guess she's confused when I get the camera that it may not actually be a picture of her I am trying to get.

Amy got me this fabulous wallet for birthday, definitely a new favorite.

I've done a pretty good job of restraining myself from baby clothes purchases. But all these tiny bathing suits have been wanting me to buy them really bad. I finally caved today when I saw this little one at target for only $6.99. I hope she loves the water as much as her momma does!

Traditions...

Well this week is the week I turn the big 29. I am taking off work on my birthday which I try to do most years. It was really fun growing up that my mom often let me miss school on my birthday which was one of the best gifts of all. I guess that's carried over to adulthood, so when I can I love a day of playing hookie on my birthday to take a break from ordinary which may be even more fun as an adult than it was as a kid. I can't wait to decide what traditions we may want to create for our baby girl that she can take with her.

So here's my latest picture at almost 29 years old, 30 weeks pregnant, on my 11th Valentines Day with Ryan:

3rd Trimester update.

Dear Pregnancy (AKA God's really great design for sending his children to the world),

You have been pretty easy on me, I must say. You followed almost all the common rules for me, you caused me to be sick but not crazy sick during the first trimester. The 2nd tri-memester was as many books said you be would be fun and the real honeymoon phase of this journey. I am now off into the 3rd trimester and you faithfully brought me back to some of the sleep issues from the 1st trimester of waking me up randomly at 3:00 and keeping me up till 6:00 several nights this week. Some may say this is preparing me for the sleepless nights in my not so distant future but I agree that one of my books put it best thats like saying dieting could prepare you for starvation. I am glad you left me out so far on any swelling, crazy cravings or much heartburn and even more thankful at this point to have no complications of any serious nature.

We have much left to do on our to do list and so I am glad you give me nine months to do that, well I am hoping its nine months to do that. At the top of our list is to find a name. So far the contenders have been bated back and forth: I wanted Ava, then Ryan countered with Elise, I came back with Sadie and Ryan came back with No. So the name game continues. We completed our child birth class and I must say it was truely mostly enjoyable and a bonding experience with Ryan. I am realizing what lies at the end of this journey is going to be one of the most joining and amazing experiences we will have together. Ryan now has asked me to simple call him "coach", I am not sure about that but I am glad that he will be the one holding my hand as I say goodbye to you pregnancy and hello to our baby girl.

resolution update...

Welp our 30 day resolution for January was as to limit our eating out to one lunch meal and one dinner meal per week. I fell off the wagon a bit the last week of the month but overall I would say we meet that goal at about 85% so I consider that pretty successful. We are carrying a lot of the habit on, I try to get our lunches ready the night before each week night and generally eat at home most week nights. I am not sure how much money or calories we saved but I am sure it was much improved.

On to February's 30 days, well 28 days. We are committing to reading scripture and praying together each night. I am already enjoying that connection time at the end of our day and the challenge of making it consistent each day.

Getting ready for baby...

Here's some pics of progress on the baby's room...

Rory was very interested in the activities going on in this space, she made herself at home on my painting chair one afternoon when I was doing touch up work:


We got the baby furniture in and Ryan put that together:


Rory again curious as to what is going on, we've tried to explain it to her but I still think she will be surprised when we bring her baby sister home:

The crib and the bedding:

I found the lamp shade and base at walmart and glued the beading on for a girly touch:

We got registered, next week we have our child birth class, lots of things coming together, Today is first day of the 3rd trimester!