A lot of happenings...

We have had such a busy couple of weeks preparing for our little Ella Bear (as Daddy likes to call her!) to arrive. We are officially within 2 weeks (or less- OMG) of her arrival. I cannot even believe it sometimes. She is this little person that, according to my babycenter emails, can grasp fingers and make eye contact with her parents already. I cannot wait to smell and squeeze her little fingers right back!

We went to the doctor on Friday for our weekly appointment and we got to see our little girl on the big screen again! It is always exciting to see her. Just her little heart beat alone is the most amazing thing to hear. She is a lot bigger in there now so things are a little harder to discern these days. The sonographer told me that our little one has "cute chubby cheeks". I have scanned a picture of the cheeks but honestly, I cannot tell that they are cheeks! Can Y'all?
We also got to meet another doctor in the group. One of the first things she said was, "oh, your husband must be tall because your baby's legs are long! 75th-100th percentile!" Um, no....both of us are pretty averaage sized?! Apparently, her femur bone is measuring somewhere b/w those percentiles. We will see when she arrives!

Daddy and I had a nice, long dinner outside on Friday night. We have had a stressful couple of weeks with changes coming up and it was just so nice to have a laid back dinner with just the two of us (eeekkk! not for too much longer)!

On Saturday, Scotty and I headed down to the White Sox game to help celebrate Belly's 30th birthday! I was prety impressed with myself and lasted until the 7th inning! I was having pretty bad braxton hicks contractions all day. They have been getting progressively worse the past couple of days which means the end is near, I hear...We had such a gerat time and were so happy to send Belly off into his 30's.
PS- We do not think that Belly is an acceptable nickname for the svelte and buff Kent Bellgrau!





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Mother's Day was a little surreal for me this year. I cannot believe that I will have a little one here soon that will call me "mommy", or, with any influence from my side of the family, "mama". Southerners never say mommy. We are "mama" kind of people.

We had every intention of going to church, however, sleep is hard to come by for me lately. I woke up at 3:30 or so on Sunday morning and couldn't fall back to sleep until 6 am...needless to say, I slept until after 9 am and felt amazing. I definitely think that insomnia is nature's way of getting you ready for having a hungry/cranky/tired baby. We had a wonderful brunch with the entire Vajda family! It was so nice to hang with everyone for Mother's Day. Later, the boys went to play golf and I cleaned as much as I could before running some errands. We topped off the night with sushi with Marko and Tiffany. It was a perfect Mother's Day!



I also wanted to post a picture of my 38 week belly! Look at how huge that bump is now....



Nursery is almost done..I think. We have a duvet coming for the guest bed in her room for visitors. Our chair just got in (yay!) so we will be picking that up this week hopefully! More items are on their way from PBK. I think we are almost there....once the chair is in, we will take pictures of the nursery to post!

Beautiful Start to a Productive Weekend....

Well, I finally remembered why I live in Chicago.....when the weather turns off warm for the first day in a LONG time, transplant Chicagoans (or, I guess just Scott and I) breathe a collective sigh of relief. "Oh, this is why I like living here!" Friday and Saturday were the best days we have had in such a long time. We had our 35 week appointment on Friday and we are looking great! We were able to meet another doctor in the practice and we really like her. She said that my weight gain was perfect and right on track. I have this fear that I am cooking a 10 lb'er..... Seriously! Dr. Buscher seems to think that Ella will be 7.5-8 lbs which is way more managable than a 10 pound baby...We ended the day with take out and an early dinner. Perfect Friday night for me.
After taking the pups for a warm and loooonnggg walk with a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts and crusing Hamlin Park, I left to meet up with some new moms I have met in the past few months. A lot of the girls I haven't seen since early February and most have had their babies! So fun to see what my life will look like in a 4.5 weeks. It is so nice to have first time mom friends to give you their perspectives and experience. They are all so nice and I hope to see them again soon! Hopefully, I will be able to hang with them a little more when I go out on maternity leave. Walks and coffee grabbing will be in order. I stole a picture that was taken of the little ones on Saturday that are already here. They are all boys! Ella will have a ton of boyfriends to play with!



We ran errands (shocker) on Saturday afternoon and picked up more Ella essentials. I am sure there will be at least a few more trips to Babies-R-Us before she arrives. There is one Babies-R-Us in the city but it is not very nice and always picked over...we have been going out to the burbs every weekend for the nicer BRU. We got to run some other errands while out in the faraway burbs. We were very productive! We came home and made dinner on the grill.....

On Sunday we finished painting finally! It turned out a little more pink than I thought it would look...I will let y'all be the judge. Mom will be here to give me her opinion which will be nice. I am thinking about adding some stripes...we will see. I also have to get some window treatments and look for a chandelier. Every girl deserves one....

A picture of me, or should I say, my belly...I forget how truly big I am now. While painting, I needed to squeeze by something. The result: a perfectly pink circle on my obscenely too tight sorority shirt. I think the pink circle is a fun momento from our room painting adventure!

Almost there...

Scotty hard at work...

Scott looks JUST like his dad in this pic!

Final pics coming soon...that is, when the room is finally ready. Hopefully this will occur before my water breaks!

Easter Weekend Activities

No fun pictures to upload, I cannot believe we forgot to break out the camera this weekend. I am the designated picture taker in our family as Scott, bless his heart, ALWAYS forgets to capture memorable happenings. I seem to think that all events are memorable, however, I don't think that sentiment is shared by SMF.

We had an ALL DAY baby class on Saturday at the hospital where we will deliver our Ella. I was hoping that it would be a really laid back with several cool couples to chat with, however, it was a little more intense than I thought it would be....

One of the first questions asked by the hyper, Type-A instructor was "who here plans to use an epidural?" Hate. this. question. It is a very personal decision and I hate how everyone who has an opinion on the matter is quick to tell you theirs. I, however, am not that way. If you want relief, power to you! I am gettting the epidural. Why put myself through undue hardship? Modern medicine is wonderful. I am glad to partake in drugs available for pain. Of course, there were a few people who were anti-edpidural and anti-vaccinations in the class. No biggie. The information provided was helpful and I ended up loving the instructor. Hardcore labor and delivery nurse who was so honest and candid. I didn't want either going into the class. I am more of a "wait and freak out when I get there" type gal. I am glad to know that I understand the process a little better.

I was so tired after the class but so looking forward to having some sweet friends over for Saturday night! People brought plenty of goodies and we had a ton left over on Sunday. After eating a huge brunch on Sunday with Scott after church, I continued to nosh on left overs and Easter goodies that Abby and Beth brought =)

Easter was a little bittersweet this year =) I really miss Atlanta a ton right now and while it was nice to be so productive and spend time with friends this weekend, I would have LOVED to have been home in the warmer weather with family. I miss my Dad a ton and haven't seen him since early March which isn't a long time, however, I know it will be a while until I get to see him again. My mom is coming up in a couple of weeks and I have many errands planned for the both of us. She is super helpful and I love that she will be here before Ella comes to help me get ready.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this year! This time next year, I hope to have little Ella looking for eggs (or, atleast, looking at Easter eggs!) in an egg hunt with a scary Easter bunny in tow for pictures. It is hard to believe that I will be getting an almost 1 year old ready for Easter next year! We are so excited. I cannot wait to meet this little one who is bumping, kicking, and hiccuping incessantly. She is such a gift and we are so in love with her already.

It is April, for goodness sake....

Well, we had one great day this past weekend and it was Saturday. We were on the go the entire day! A lot of errands were on tab for our weekend. I feel like it will be that way from here on out! We went back to Benjamin Moore this weekend and got a couple more samples for Ella's room. Pink is really hard to pick out! It never seems to be the same color as the swatch. Ever. I posted a pic below of the first 3 colors I picked out...let's hope for some better luck soon.



Also, the dogs are really funny when we are trying to get Ella's room ready. Finlay loves to go in and sniff around and lay around....he has been underneath the crib a few times and I think he has a sneaking suspicion that something big is happening. He is extra sweet and affectionate lately. I think he knows that I am cooking a new sibling for him. I have a feeling that Finaly will be extra protective of our little one. Savannah hasn't a clue, bless her heart....



We went to dinner on Saturday night at the Stefl house. Holly planned a greek menu and it was delicious. I forgot how much I love phyllo dough. I need to make more phyllo dough based entrees. Everything was delicious! It is so fun to see Olivia every week because she changes so much from week to week. She is precious and I had to post a pic of her below. Can't wait for she and Ella to meet!



We spent Sunday on the go as well and are almost finished with baby shopping! We are just have to get the pack and play and stroller. We are almost all set! Ella's room needs some shelves and paint and a new duvet for the bed (we need to coordinate colors, of course!), but other than that, we are almost there. Miss E just needs 6 more weeks to grow...

Birthday and Other Happenings.....

So, I have officially hit the late 20's. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I know, I know, but still! I am very thankful for all of the wonderful things that have happened to me throughout my 20's.....I was not really looking forward to my birthday but Scott had planned a dinner and I spent the day receiving flowers, cards and sweet emails and calls from friends! I also got to have lunch with my sweet friend, Abby. We went to the cutest little bistro at the Peninsula hotel. I posted some pics below from my birthday but am sad to say that I don't have any from our dinner at Coco Pazzo. Dinner was good but not great...it was a tuscan menu but I think that it failed to live up to our expectations coming from our amazing Italian vacay just a few weeks before...



I also realized that I never posted any pictures from our shower in Atlanta that we had a little over a month ago! It was such a wonderful treat to get home to Atlanta to unwind a bit and spend time with family. Scott's parents, Bob and Peggy, were able to come all the way from Danville, Ca. to celebrate with us. It is so nice that Peggy has 2 brothers, John and Bob, in Atlanta as well. It was almost like a mini family reunion. It was so cool to have both families together for such a happy occasion. I got to see some wonderful family friends that I haven't been able to see since our wedding almost 3 years ago. Some of my closest friends in Atlanta were able to come and it was so nice to see my girls =) I was really pregnant this trip down so I was glad to see them before Ella arrives. I posted some pics below of family on the day of our shower. I was sad to not have my grandmother present as she was in the hopsital. She is out and better now, however, we would have love for her to have been there....





Scott was out of town last weekend but the pups and I were able to run a lot of errands, hang out with sweet friends (thanks for the cupcakes, Beth!!) and got to babysit little Kayla while Marko and Tiffany went out for dinner. She is such a doll and we had fun hanging out. While it was fun to run baby errands and have plenty of time to work out and eat cereal in bed while watching Sex and the City multiple times, I was so happy to have my fabulous husband back in town from his bachelor party weekend. We have a lot more to do this weekend and have fun plans with friends. I hope to post more of our nursery progress next weekend. We need to decide on a paint color as soon as possible!! More to come....

Ella's New Furniture

So, after researching and looking....and looking some more....We decided on some beautiful furniture and it was delivered on Monday! We both love it and couldn't be happier. Now, all we need to do is paint, find a mattress, buy a stroller, well, we have quite a lot still to do. I hope to get a lot of things done while daddy is away at Timmy's bachelor party! I have posted some pictures of the new furniture below. I will post pictures of the finished room once, well, it is finished.









I also wanted to show y'all had much Ella/Me have grown in the past 1.5 months! I still can't believe my belly is this big....its going to be a long 9 more weeks!

My sentiments Exactly....

For those of you who know me pretty well (which is probably all of you reading this blog), I was convinced, 100%, without a shadow of a doubt, from the bowels of my heart and soul, that Scott and I were having a little boy. As soon as I found I was pregnant and processed all of the scary but exciting news, I just knew that a boy was growing inside of me. I was convinced. All I ever knew was girls- I have an older sister who had a little princess, Grayce. I have been surrounded by girls all of my life! I have always been a girlie girl- from cheerleading to clothes to a short lived ballet phase, I have lived and dreamed pink. Even my sorority colors are pink...
Even though I love being a girl, it is really hard at times to be all things to all people.... Dealing with heartache, other people's expectations, trying to be and subsequently learning that you are not perfect (and neither is anyone else, for that matter), roller coaster emotions.... you get the picture. I thought, for some reason, that boys are magically easier and therefore, I needed one.
As most girls would probably attest to, middle school was awful. High school brought with it a deeply serious and emotional romantic relationship that lasted well into college only to blow up in my face....I was devestated. No real girl drama followed me from middle to high school...not even in college. After graduating from UGA and officially becoming a "big" girl and a professional in my early 20's, I found out that those girls from middle school still existed (gasp! I needed to try to be the best person I could be for myself and for Scott and to try my best to not worry about anyone else or their opinions of me. This is something that is so difficult to learn!
Ever since we learned that we were expecting, nature has kind of put some things into perspective for me....thank goodness. What can be more important than this little person growing inside of me?
For all these reasons listed above, I thought that boys had it easy...it doesn't even take them that long to get ready for goodness sake! This, I thought, was a good indication of how easy it would to raise a little boy. A baseball cap and cargos? Done! I was ready for a little boy.
Well, as luck and love would have it, we have been blessed with a beautiful little girl and I can't imagine it any other way! I am already head over heels in love with her....
I came across this blog that a friend sent me a day after we found out that we were having Ella. I wish I would have been able to come across this exact post the day that she forwarded, but, alas, I just saw this post today and just had to share. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Girl of my Dreams

POSTED BY GIRL'S GONE CHILD ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009 AT 9:39 AM

I didn't want a daughter. I always figured I'd grow up and have babies. Boys, only boys, I said to myself and out loud. I would be a natural mother to boys. Me with my fart jokes and inability to function in large groups of women. Me with my love for skateboards and cannonballs and snakes and spiders. Me who always preferred boys as friends and roommates and confidantes.

Women are supposed to want girls. Especially after they've already given birth to boys but the concept of mothering a daughter always frightened me. What if boys were mean to her when she was older, called her a dog (woof! woof!) while the girls called her "ugly" to her face during her awkward years? What if she became popular as she aged, even pretty, so that the older boys liked her and the older girls hated her, threw eggs at her face at parties, graffitied DIE SLUT on her garage door with chocolate syrup. (Remind me to tell you the story about how the most popular girls are always the most unpopular.)

What if in High School she decided to hate me? Told me to go fuck myself, slammed the door in my face, like I did my own mother throughout my teen years. What if she had her heart broken, locked herself in bathrooms, flirted with older men so they would buy her beer? What if she went on to hang out with drug addicts, had to watch them die, drove too fast. What if she fell in love before her heart was mature enough to handle a fracture, was taken advantage of by bad men who were old enough to know better than to touch her, hurt her, convince her that she was worthless, turn her inside out of her mind.

What if she became... me?

What if I was unable to guide her through the torrential downpour that is adolescence and beyond? What if I forgot how it felt to be a girl becoming a woman? What if I punished her wrongfully and she was never able to trust me again?
............................................................
After giving birth to Archer, I never knew what to do around little girls. I never knew how to act around friend's daughters, so rarely did I spend time with small children who weren't boys. Who weren't Archer or his friends, but one day, a couple years ago, I met a little girl. A daughter of a friend of Hal's and she liked me. We all met at a restaurant and the girl brought a book she was reading and immediately started telling me all about it and how much she appreciated fantasies.

"I especially like fantasy books with animal characters," she said so I asked her if she knew of the Redwall Series books, because those were my favorite when I was her age. Mossflower especially. She had never heard of them before so she asked me to spell the author's name for her as she carefully wrote it down in a little spiral notepad.

We spent the whole evening talking as friends, about animals and books and boys and our favorite kind of pizza and for the first time I thought to myself I could have a daughter. Little girls aren't so scary.

On our way home from dinner I told Hal that I wasn't afraid of having a daughter anymore.

"I didn't know you were ever afraid. I just thought you didn't like girls."

..............................................................
(Dear Fable)

I had a feeling you were in there the moment I peed on the pregnancy test. Even when you were only a bundle of cells I dreamt I had a daughter and she was running and laughing and blonde and you.

"I think its a girl," I said to your father. "I had a dream."

And Hal laughed because I'm always having dreams and there are always "signs" and I'm always talking about good omens (today I found all of these quarters in the coin return of the parking meter so I rushed home and proclaimed WE'RE RICH!) and I shrugged and said "just watch. It's a girl and she's going to have blonde hair like in my dream."

And your dad made a face like I was crazy and said "we'll see about that."

I was right about the dream. About you being a girl and when the ultrasound tech said "Congratulations! It's a girl!" I said "I know!" like I was psychic or something. And I drove home from the doctor's appointment hunched over my steering wheel, nervous. Excited, of course but also nervous and even scared out of my mind because holy shit, I was going to have a daughter.

That night I had another dream about you and your hair was still blonde and you were once again laughing except this time you were chasing me. And in the dream I was crying because I was laughing so hard and it felt so real that I woke up and looked for you in the darkness. Forgetting you were with me. In me. And for whatever reason, just knowing that made me feel Safe. Less afraid.

You played in my dreams every night after that. Playing peek-a-boo behind trees, leading me out of the rain on one occasion, and by the time I went into labor many months later, I was no longer (not even a little bit) afraid. Not of giving birth to a daughter. Not of you or becoming your mother. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life was but a dream.

And then you were here and I wanted to punch myself in the face for ever thinking for a second that I didn't want a daughter. That I didn't want a little girl. That I didn't totally and absolutely need you as my child.

I was instantly changed in that hospital room, the moment the nurse handed you to me, under the delivery lights, my blood still thick in your hair, your mouth searching for me, lost and found. You're presence was familiar, like we had met before, like we had known each other since the beginning of time. (Maybe we have.)
...and now
It's amazing how wrong a person can be about things. About herself and what she wants. About her ability to be someone, to love something. Until you were born I was jealous of the boys and the fun they got to have. A reluctant woman in isolation, little desire to make girlfriends or pursue female relationships that extended beyond the surface. Closed little clam, I smiled and waved and faked my way through social functions, befriending few, keeping secrets from most. "Girls suck," I mumbled, expecting every woman I met to pull me down, knock me over, throw eggs and chocolate syrup. Guilty until proven innocent.

Girls don't suck anymore.


In my dreams you were faceless and now I know why. I never would have believed such beauty was possible....like magic, you are.

It is my greatest honor to be your guide for as long as you'll have me.

Thank you (Dear Fable) for being mine.